Preparation of novel nano/submicrofiber catalyst containing nano‐TiO2 particles

A novel Nano/submicrofiber catalyst was prepared via electrospinning technology from poly (vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) and nano‐TiO₂. First, nano‐TiO₂ particles were added into the mixture of ethanol and deionized water, the mass ratio of ethanol and deionized water was 1 : 1, the TiO₂ suspension was obtained after 1 h with ultrasonic treatment and centrifugal effect, Then PVP was added into the above‐mentioned suspension and the content of PVP in the sol was 28%. The TiO₂/PVP solution was electrospun with different voltage. The effects of the content of TiO₂ and electrospinning voltage on diameter of nano/submicrofiber were studied. The nano/submicrofiber catalyst was characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microcopy, X‐ray diffraction, and Fourier transform infrared. The results show that the diameter of nano/submicrofiber increases with an increase of the content of nano‐TiO₂ and decreases with the increase of electrospinning voltage. The analytical result showed that the nano‐TiO₂ particles were well dispersed in the matrix of PVP, moreover, the crystal type of nano‐TiO₂ was a mixture of anatase and rutile and the diameter of nano‐TiO₂ particles in the nano/submicrofiber is in the range of 20–60 nm and the nano‐TiO₂ particle was monodisperse, and the nano‐TiO₂ particle and PVP molecule was connected by a hydrogen bonding. This nano/submicrofiber catalyst has a high efficiency on degradation on CH₂O. 56.8 percent of CH₂O was degraded under ultraviolet radiation in 80 min when the content of nano‐TiO₂ is 20% in nano/submicrofibers. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012