Fabrication and photocatalytic activity of TiO2 composite membranes via simultaneous electrospinning and electrospraying process

In present study, a simultaneous electrospinning and electrospraying(SEE) process was employed to produce microclusters of TiO_2 nanoparticles and interlock them in nanofibrous network. The photocatalytic composite membranes(PCMs) were fabricated by electrospraying TiO_2 nanoparticle suspension into microcluster form that dispersed and entrapped within nylon-6 electrospun fiber membrane. Three PCMs membrane with TiO_2 content of 52.0, 83.6,and 91.7 wt.% were successfully fabricated. The membrane consisted of TiO_2 microclusters,ranging in sizes from around 0.3 to 10 μm, distributed uniformly within the nylon-6 nanofibrous network. PCMs photocatalytic activity against Methylene Blue(MB) in aqueous solution showed more than 98% MB removal efficiency after 120 min of photocatalytic oxidation(PCO) for all PCMs. For PCM with the highest TiO_2 content tested for 5 PCO cycles, it was found that most of their TiO_2 content remained incorporated within the nanofibrous structure. The concept of nanoparticles clusters entrapment with SEE fabrication employed here provide a simple and effective method for reducing detachment of nanostructure phase from nanocomposite membrane.