Elastic and Conductive Photocatalytic Membrane

Abstract

The development of photocatalytic membranes using electrospinning technology has significantly advanced their practical applications. However, current photocatalytic membranes are encountering the issues of poor mechanical property in non-elastic fiber and low charge carrier separation efficiency in non-conductive polymer. Through improving thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) precursor dissolution and adding conductive polyaniline (PANI) respectively before and after electrospinning, TiO₂-based elastic conductive (EC) TPU membranes with higher mechanical strength and photocatalytic performance are created, compared to traditional inelastic non-conductive (IN) membrane, even to inelastic conductive (IC) membrane. The nanofibers in the TiO₂ EC membrane have a relatively rough surface structure, which exposes more catalytic sites. Ultraviolet photoelectron spectrum (UPS) test results show that the work function (φ) of TiO₂ in EC membrane becomes lower than in IN and IC membranes, leading to the strongest electron transfer potential for photocatalytic reactions. For the photocatalytic degradation of Methyl Orange (MO), the TiO₂ EC membrane demonstrates the best degradation rate of 49.43% over 3 days among three samples. These findings suggest that the TiO₂ EC membrane is promising for in-site micropollutant water treatment in the real-world.