TiO2 nanoparticles supported on PMMA nanofibers for photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange.

In this paper, a photocatalyst composed of TiO2 nanoparticles supported on the nanofibers of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) was successfully prepared by hydrothermally treating the electrospun PMMA nanofibers containing titanium n-butoxide precursor at 135°C for 8h. As-prepared composite was characterized by field-emission scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction pattern, thermal gravimetric analysis and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area measurements. It is revealed that high content (42%) of tetragonal anatase TiO2 nanoparticles are uniformly loaded on the PMMA nanofibers to constitute the composite (TiO2@PMMA) photocatalyst with BET surface area of 21.4m2g-1. The photocatalytic activity of TiO2@PMMA towards the degradation of methyl orange (MO), a model pollutant, has been investigated. It is observed that 0.1g of the composite could degrade 100mL of MO (10mg/L) completely within 50min under UV illumination, exhibiting a high catalytic activity. Moreover, the composite could be easily separated from the reaction system by filtration, and maintain high photocatalytic activity in five consecutive cycles of the degradation of MO, suggesting its potentials in recycling use. The work provides a new approach for the development of novel supported photocatalysts with high catalytic activity and good reusability.