Ni-ZnO/PAN- nanofibers, Preparation & Application as Visible Light Photocatalyst for Water Pollutant Degradation

The one dimensional (1D) Ni-ZnO nanorods have been synthesized by a simple hydrothermal method. A novel photocatalyst of nanostructured Ni-ZnO immobilized on the surface of polyacrylonitrile nanofibers were successfully fabricated by a composition of electrospinnig technique and by using dimethylformamide (DMF) as a solvent. Preparation of the introduced mats was obtained by using simple, low cost, effective and high yielding technology; electrospinning. The structures of nanofibers were characterized by various techniques including XRD, SEM, FT-IR, UV-Vis diffuse reflectance (DR) and TGA. The Ni-ZnO/PAN nanofibers photodegradation efficiency was optimized with factorial design method in order to be highly effective in the photocatalytic degradation of methyle orange (MO). Our result exhibited the highest visible light photocatalitic activities. Overall, the presented mat is recommended to be used as an efficient, low cost and healthily secure photocataly st in the field of water treatment

Keywords:

photocatalyst , photodegradation , Ni-ZnO/PAN nanofibers , electrospinning