Preparation and visible-light photocatalytic performances of cyclized polyacrylonitrile/TiO2 nanocomposites

Abstract

TiO2 nanomaterials were prepared by a conventional sol-gel method with tetrabutyl titanate as Ti source. The polyacrylonitrile solution with dimethyl sulfoxide as solvent was added into TiO2 sols to form TiO2 gels containing polyacrylonitrile, then the as-prepared TiO2 gels were heat-treated to prepare cyclized polyacrylonitrile/TiO2 (CPAN/TiO2) nanocomposites. The CPAN/TiO2 nanocomposites were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), UV-vis diffuse reflection spectroscopy (DRS) and photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL). The visible-light photocatalytic performances of CPAN/TiO2 nanocomposites were investigated by evaluating the decomposition of methyl orange. The results reveal CPAN/TiO2 nanocomposites exhibit excellent visible-light photocatalytic acitivity and stability, and show the highest visible-light photocatalytic activity when the mass ratio of CPAN to TiO2, heat-treatment temperature and time are 1∶300, 270 ℃ and 1 h, respectively.

Keywords

• catalytic chemistry
• TiO2
• polyacrylonitrile
• sol-gel method
• photocatalytic degradation
• modification