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Monolith free-standing plasmonic PAN/Ag/AgX (X = Br, I) nanofiber mat as easily recoverable visible-light-driven photocatalyst

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Abstract

Most efficient visible-light-responsive photocatalysts are in the form of powder, leading to the tedious separation from the reaction media. Herein, we developed a versatile method for the general synthesis of free-standing polyacrylonitrile (PAN)/Ag/AgX (X = Br, I) nanofiber mats, where fibrous PAN/Ag precursor was firstly prepared via an electroless plating strategy, followed by a direct elemental halogenation with Br2/H2O or I2/ethanol solution. The as-obtained PAN/Ag/AgX nanofiber mats exhibit exceptional photocatalytic activity toward degradation of organic pollutants. Furthermore, the flexibility enables it to be easily recovered after the reaction was completed. This work provides new insights into the fabrication of membrane-based photocatalysts on a large scale.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the Key Project of Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin (No. 18JCZDJC97200).

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Author notes

  1. Meng-Mo Ping and Shu-Jun Qiu have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tianjin Key Laboratory of Organic Solar Cells and Photochemical Conversion, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin, 300384, China

    Meng-Mo Ping, Shu-Jun Qiu, Gui-Juan Wei & Chang-Hua An

  2. School of Materials Science and Engineering, China University of Petroleum, Qingdao, 266580, China

    Meng-Mo Ping, Gui-Juan Wei, Jun-Xue Liu, Zhao-Jie Wang, Shu-Tao Wang & Chang-Hua An

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  1. Meng-Mo Ping
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  2. Shu-Jun Qiu
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  3. Gui-Juan Wei
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  4. Jun-Xue Liu
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  5. Zhao-Jie Wang
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  6. Shu-Tao Wang
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  7. Chang-Hua An
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Correspondence to Zhao-Jie Wang or Chang-Hua An.

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Ping, MM., Qiu, SJ., Wei, GJ. et al. Monolith free-standing plasmonic PAN/Ag/AgX (X = Br, I) nanofiber mat as easily recoverable visible-light-driven photocatalyst. Rare Met. 38, 361–368 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12598-019-01242-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12598-019-01242-1

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