Influence of silver doping on the phase transformation and crystallite growth of electrospun TiO2 nanofibers

Ag doped TiO2 nanofibers were fabricated by electrospinning technique using polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) and titanium isopropoxide (TiP) as precursor. The effects of silver and calcination temperature on the preparation of electrospun TiO2 nanofibers were investigated. The calcination temperature determines the TiO2 phases as ether anatase or rutile. When the calcination temperature increased, crystallite size of TiO2 nanofiber increased. The crystallite size of Ag doped TiO2 nanofiber is smaller than that of the pure TiO2 nanofiber because silver is retrained in this phase transformation. Silver controlled the phase transformation as well as had an inhibition effect on the growth of anatase crystallite.