Electrospinning synthesis and photocatalytic activity of mesoporous TiO2 nanofibers

Titanium dioxide (TiO(2)) nanofibers in the anatase structure were successfully prepared via electrospinning technique followed by calcination process. The morphologies, crystal structure, surface area, and the photocatalytic activity of resulting TiO(2) nanofibers were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), nitrogen sorption, and UV-vis spectroscopy. The results revealed that calcination temperature had greatly influenced the morphologies of TiO(2) nanofibers, but no obvious effect was noticed on the crystal structure of TiO(2) nanofibers. The photocatalytic properties of TiO(2) nanofibers were evaluated by photocatalytic degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) in water under visible light irradiation. It was observed that TiO(2) nanofibers obtained by calcination at 500°C for 3 hours exhibited the most excellent photocatalytic activity. We present a novel and simple method to fabricate TiO(2) nanofibers with high-photocatalytic activity.