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Electrospinning synthesis of porous Bi12TiO20/Bi4Ti3O12 composite nanofibers and their photocatalytic property under simulated sunlight

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Abstract

Porous composite nanofibers consisted of cubic Bi12TiO20, and orthorhombic Bi4Ti3O12 with pore size of 5–10 nm have been successfully synthesized by combining electrospinning with calcination for photodegrading methyl orange (MO). Calcination temperature has a great effect on the ratio of Bi12TiO20 and Bi4Ti3O12 and their morphology, which in turn affects the photocatalytic property of the products. MO was almost completely degraded over the as-prepared samples obtained under the optimizing calcination temperature of 500 °C after irradiating for 40 min under simulated sunlight. Besides, cycle and regeneration experiments show that the porous Bi12TiO20/Bi4Ti3O12 composite nanofibers possess fine cycle stability and regeneration ability, after the regenerative photocatalyst was recycled twice, 91% of the MO was degraded. Based on the characterization results, the mechanism of the improvement in photocatalytic property of Bi12TiO20/Bi4Ti3O12 composite nanofibers was also investigated, and h+ played a major role in the photodegradation of MO. In addition, the as-prepared Bi12TiO20/Bi4Ti3O12 composite nanofibers show a certain capacity of photocatalytic hydrogen production under the simulated sunlight. This work not only provides a porous fiber with good photocatalytic activity, but also provides a reference for the preparation and performance study of other fibers.

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Acknowledgements

The work reported here was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos. 51672144, 51572137, 51502149, 51702181, the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province under Grant Nos. ZR2016EMB25, ZR2017PEM006, ZR2017BB013, the Higher Educational Science and Technology Program of Shandong Province under Grant Nos. J16LA10, J17KA014, the Application Foundation Research Program of Qingdao under Grant No. 15-9-1-28-jch, the Taishan Scholars Program of Shandong Province under No. ts201511034 and the Overseas Taishan Scholars Program. We express our grateful thanks to them for their financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory Base of Eco-chemical Engineering, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, 53 Zhengzhou Road, Qingdao, 266042, Shandong, People’s Republic of China

    Alan Meng, Jing Xing & Wenlong Guo

  2. Key Laboratory of Polymer Material Advanced Manufacturings Technology of Shandong Provincial, College of Electromechanical Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266061, Shandong, People’s Republic of China

    Zhenjiang Li & Xiaomei Wang

  3. College of Sino-German Science and Technology, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266061, Shandong, People’s Republic of China

    Zhenjiang Li

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  1. Alan Meng
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  2. Jing Xing
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  3. Wenlong Guo
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Correspondence to Zhenjiang Li.

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Meng, A., Xing, J., Guo, W. et al. Electrospinning synthesis of porous Bi12TiO20/Bi4Ti3O12 composite nanofibers and their photocatalytic property under simulated sunlight. J Mater Sci 53, 14328–14336 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-018-2628-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-018-2628-2

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