Electrospinning Preparation of PAN/TiO2 Nanofibers and Photocatalytic Regeneration Properties for Methylene Blue dye

Abstract

The nanofiber membranes prepared by electrospinning method attracted the attention of researchers in the field of pollutant treatment due to their ease of manufacture, efficient performance and ease of removal. Some of these membranes lack the possibility of reuse due to low efficiency and high regeneration cost. In this paper, we were able to prepare nanofiber membranes from polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and PAN/TiO2 by adding different ratios (5,10 and 15) wt% of TiO2 respectively. The resultants nanofibers were characterized using Field Emission Scanning microscope (SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). These prepared membranes enable effective and complete degradation of MB dye in water using ultraviolet (UV) irradiation with the possibility of reuse and high efficiency after washing with distilled water. The efficiency is up to 98% when 15wt% TiO2 was used, while the degradation reaches to 83% when reused the nanofibers composite (PAN/TiO2). The work not only explains the possibility of using and reusing nanofiber films in the treatment of pollutants but also gives a detailed of understanding the behavior of the membrane in dye degradation.