Electrospinning preparation and dye adsorption capacity of TiO2@Carbon flexible fiber

Abstract TiO2@carbon flexible fiber was prepared by combining electrostatic spinning technology and hydrothermal synthesis method. The XRD, SEM, TEM and Zeta potential techniques were used to characterize the phase, microstructure and surface charge properties of the samples. The growth mechanism of TiO2 nanoarray on carbon flexible fiber with different morphologies was studied, and the dye adsorption capacity of the samples was evaluated by methylene blue (MB) degradation effect. The results showed that proper doping amounts of TiO2 particles improved the flexibility and the hydrophilic property of carbon fiber significantly, which was conducive to the deposition and growth of TiO2 on the carbon fiber. With the increase of hydrothermal time, the TiO2 nanoarray grew denser gradually along the [110] crystal surface. The negative charge on the surface of carbon fiber increased, which was benefited to the removal of MB. The dye adsorption capacity of TiO2@carbon fiber was resulted from the synergistic effect of physical adsorption (carbon fiber) and photocatalysis (TiO2) process.