Enhanced photocatalytic activity of electrospun TiO2/ZnO nanofibers

Titanium nanoparticles have been a popular photocatalyst. However, the drawback is that they can only be activated by ultraviolet light. Also, people have concern in nanoparticles that they can be easily detached and inhaled. In this study, we produced photocatalyst made from nanofibers that would be less prone to being inhaled as the fibers are long and narrow and they tangled up forming a structure that is less easily detached. Further, zinc oxide has been added to the photocatalyst to lower the band gap so that visible light can be harnessed. Two interesting results have been obtained - TiO2 nanofibers outperform TiO2 nanoparticles with the same diameter (100 nm) in photocatalytic oxidation of NOx. TiO2-Zinc oxide composite nanofibers further improve the photocatalytic oxidation of NOx due to additional energy harnessed from the visible light spectrum.