Fabrication of CaFe₂O₄ nanofibers via electrospinning method with enhanced visible light photocatalytic activity

CaFe₂O₄ nanofibers with diameters of about 130[Formula: see text]nm have been fabricated via a facile electrospinning method. The structures, morphologies and optical properties of the obtained CaF₂O₄ nanofibers have been investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and UV–Visible UV–Vis diffuse reflectance spectrum. The photocatalytic activities of the CaFe₂O₄ nanofibers are evaluated by the photo-degradation of Methyl orange (MO). The results show that the CaFe₂O₄ nanofibers (72%) exhibit much higher photocatalytic performance than the CaFe₂O₄ powders (27%) prepared by conventional method under visible light irradiation. The enhanced photocatalytic performance of CaFe₂O₄ nanofibers could be attributed to the large surface area, high photogenerated charge carriers density and low charge transfer resistance, as revealed by photoelectrochemical measurement. And fundamentally, it could be attributed to the decreased particle size and the fibrous nanostructure. This work not only provides an efficient way to improve the photocatalytic activity of CaFe₂O₄, but also provides a new method for preparing materials with nanofibrous structure.