Light Propagation and Enhanced Photocatalytic Activities in Electrospun Titania Nanofibers

• Main Authors: Yuan-Nien Chen, 陳願年
• Other Authors: Changshu Kuo
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/99255849089391988574

碩士 === 國立成功大學 === 材料科學及工程學系碩博士班 === 97 === Titania nanofibers were fabricated by an electrospinning technique using poly(vinylpyrrolidione) (PVP) and titanium tetraisopropoxide (TTIP) as electrospinning sol-gel formulas. Post calcination process at 450oC removed the organic contents and converted the as-spun PVP/TTIP blends to anatase titania nanofibers. Randomly deposited titania nanofibers acted as the light propagation matrix where the light scattering took place as evidenced by their transmission UV-vis spectra. Relatively-broadened scattering UV-vis spectra as functions of titania fiber diameters and deposition thicknesses were carefully examined. The wavelength with maximum scattering outputs ranged from 350 to 650nm was highly depended on the diameters of titania nanofibers from 200 to 450nm. The linear correlation between maximum scattering wavelengths and titania fiber diameters was found in a good agreement with the Mie scattering theory. In addition, photocurrents and hydrogen productions of these titania nanofibers were measured under the UV irradiation with normalization by sample weights, fiber surface areas, and BET surface areas. Both investigations confirmed the light propagation in electrospun titania nanofibers linearly increased with the deposition thicknesses, which also significantly improved the efficiency of irradiation energy conversions.