Photocatalytic Deposition of Silver Nanoparticles onto Organic/Inorganic Composite Nanofibers

Summary: In this work, silver nanoparticles were embedded in electrospun organic/inorganic composite nanofibers consisting of PAN and TiO₂ through photocatalytic reduction of the silver ions in silver nitrate solutions under UV irradiation. The morphology and diameter of PAN/TiO₂ composite nanofibers could be controlled by varying the initial contents of TiO₂ in the spinning solution. From TEM images and UV‐Vis spectra, it has been confirmed that monodisperse silver nanoparticles with a diameter of ≈2 nm were deposited selectively upon the titania of the as prepared composite nanofibers. The amount of Ag nanoparticles embedded on composite nanofibers was greatly influenced by the amount of TiO₂ in composite nanofibers, reflecting the role of titania as the inorganic stabilizer and photocatalyst.

Morphology of silver nanoparticles embedded on PAN/TiO₂ composite nanofibers.