Fabrication and photocatalytic activity of electrospun nylon-6 nanofibers containing tourmaline and titanium dioxide nanoparticles

In this paper, we report the effect of the incorporation of titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles (NPs) on the photocatalytic properties of a tourmaline NP/nylon-6 composite mat prepared by one-step electrospinning process. Several characterization techniques were utilized to check the successful incorporation of NPs in/on the nanofibers. Both TiO2 and tourmaline NPs were confirmed to be incorporated on the surface of the nylon-6 nanofibers or fully embedded in the fibers through SEM and TEM observations. The fiber diameter showed increasing size trend in the order of nylon-6 < tourmaline/nylon-6 < TiO2-tourmaline/nylon-6. The incorporation of both TiO2 and tourmaline NPS on/in nylon-6 nanofibers has resulted to increased photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutant. The successful immobilization on nylon-6 nanofibers through simple electrospinning of tourmaline possessing unique properties, and photocatalytic TiO2 showed synergistic effect in the degradation of organic pollutants, which could have potential application in water treatment applications. (c) 2013 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.