State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai, 201620, China.
Key Laboratory of Textile Science & Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Textiles, Donghua University, Shanghai, 201620, China.
Sci Rep. 2017 May 9;7(1):1636. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-01969-w.
Self-standing photocatalytic membranes constructed from TiO nanofibers hold great promise in environmental remediation; however, challenges still remained for the poor mechanical properties of polycrystalline TiO nanofibers. Herein, soft Zr-doped TiO (TZ) nanofibrous membranes with robust mechanical properties and enhanced photocatalytic activity were fabricated via electrospinning technique. The Zr incorporation could effectively inhibit the grain growth and reduce the surface defects and breaking point of TiO nanofiber. The as-prepared TZ membranes were composed of well-interconnected nanofibers with a high aspect ratios, small grain size and pore size, which exhibited good tensile strength (1.32 MPa) and showed no obvious damage after 200 cycles of bending to a radius of 2 mm. A plausible bending deformation mechanism of the soft TZ membranes was proposed from microscopic single nanofiber to macroscopical membranes. Moreover, the resultant TZ membranes displayed better photocatalytic performance for methylene blue degradation compared to a commercial catalyst (P25), including high degradation degree of 95.4% within 30 min, good reusability in 5 cycles, and easiness of recycling. The successful preparation of such fascinating materials may open up new avenues for the design and development of soft TiO-based membranes for various application.
自支撑的 TiO2纳米纤维光催化膜在环境修复方面具有广阔的应用前景；然而，多晶 TiO2纳米纤维较差的机械性能仍存在挑战。本文通过静电纺丝技术制备了具有优异机械性能和增强光催化活性的软 Zr 掺杂 TiO2（TZ）纳米纤维膜。Zr 的掺入可以有效抑制晶粒生长，减少表面缺陷和纳米纤维的断裂点。所制备的 TZ 膜由相互连接的纳米纤维组成，具有高纵横比、小晶粒尺寸和孔径，表现出良好的拉伸强度（1.32 MPa），并且在半径为 2mm 的 200 次弯曲循环后没有明显的损坏。从微观单根纳米纤维到宏观膜，提出了软 TZ 膜的合理弯曲变形机制。此外，与商业催化剂（P25）相比，所得 TZ 膜在亚甲基蓝降解方面表现出更好的光催化性能，包括 30min 内降解度达到 95.4%，5 次循环中的良好可重复使用性以及易于回收。这种引人注目的材料的成功制备可能为设计和开发用于各种应用的软 TiO2基膜开辟新途径。
