Varying TiO₂ macroscopic fiber morphologies toward tuning their photocatalytic properties

In a context of volatile organic compound photodecomposition, we have addressed TiO2-based macroscoscpic fiber generation. We have extruded hybrid sols of amorphous titania nanoparticles, latex nanoparticles, and nonionic surfactant (Tergitol) as structure-directing agents into a poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) solution bearing salts acting as a flocculating medium. The resulting nanocomposite TiO2/latex/PVA macroscopic fibers were thermally treated in air to open porosity by organic removal while generating the photocatalytically active anatase phase of TiO2 along with residual brookite. Considering the synthetic paths, we have varied both the diameter of the latex particles as well as their concentration within the starting sol. These parameters allow tuning both the voids created through the applied thermal treatment and the fiber final diameters. For gas-phase photocatalysis, we have shown that the fiber diameters, mesoscopic roughness, and macroscopic topological defects represent indeed important morphological parameters acting cooperatively toward both acetone degradation and its mineralization processes. Particularly, triggering the fiber morphological characteristics, we have increased their efficiency toward acetone degradation of around 550% when compared with previous work.