In Situ Fabrication of Bi2Ti2O7/TiO2 Heterostructure Submicron Fibers for Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity

A facile two-step synthesis route combining electrospinning and hydrothermal techniques has been performed to obtain Bi2Ti2O7/TiO2 heterostructured submicron fibers. Bi2Ti2O7 nanosheets were grown on the surface of TiO2 submicron fibers. The density of the nanosheets increased with higher precursor concentration of the Bi/Ti reaction raw materials. UV-visible (UV-vis) diffuse reflectance spectroscopy indicated that the absorption spectrum of the Bi2Ti2O7/TiO2 composite extended into the visible-light region. Photocatalytic tests showed that the Bi2Ti2O7/TiO2 heterostructures possess a much higher degradation rate of rhodamine B than the unmodified TiO2 submicron fibers under visible light. The enhanced photocatalytic activity can be attributed to the synergistic effect between improved visible-light absorption and the internal electric field created by the heterojunctions. The effective separation of photogenerated carriers driven by the photoinduced potential was demonstrated by the photoelectrochemical analysis.