Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity of Electrospun PAN/Ag‐G NFs Under Solar Irradiation for Effective Degradation of Hazardous Organic Dyes
Akshara P. Shah, Shilpa Jain, Navinchandra G. Shimpi
Abstract
Abstract Solar light induced organic pollutant degradation is an ideal approach for wastewater treatment and environmental challenges. The as‐synthesized nanofibers (NFs) exhibited significant photocatalytic activity towards both the dyes (anionic and cationic) under solar light irradiation. Present work reports, preparation of Ag−G nanoparticles (NPs) impregnated in PAN NFs using electrospinning technique. The recyclability of Ag−G NPs impregnated PAN NFs becomes very easier due to formation PAN NFs mat with impregnation of highly porous structure of Ag−G NPs as compared to powder catalyst. The as‐prepared PAN/Ag−G NFs were subjected for structural, optical and morphological study. Under solar light irradiation, PAN/Ag−G NFs shows excellent photocatalytic performance of methylene blue (MB) (88.19%, 75mins) and methyl orange (MO) dyes (82.5%, 90 min) degradation respectively. TOC values and rate constants of the samples indicate the superior catalytic efficiency as compared to Ag−G NPs and PAN NFs. Under solar radiation, mechanism and plausible pathway of photocatalytic dye degradation is also reported.