Photocatalytic behavior of cellulose-based paper with TiO2 loaded on carbon fibers

Cellulose-based photocatalytic paper was prepared with a papermaking technique, in which TiO2 nanoparticle loaded carbon fibers were used together with cellulose fibers as raw materials. TiO2 nanoparticles were loaded on carbon fibers with either Na2SiO3 or Al2(SO4)3 as adhesive. They are distributed on carbon fibers in a form of small clusters. The photodegradation behaviors of the as-prepared papers were investigated using methyl orange (MO) solution as a target pollutant. It was found that the degradation effects of papers on MO using sodium silicate as the adhesive of TiO2 nanoparticles are higher than those using aluminum sulfate as adhesive. When the ratio of carbon fiber to cellulose fiber is 1:1, the photocatalytic paper exhibits a high degradation performance. The introduction of poly(amideamine-epichlorohydrin) (PAE) as a paper wet strengthening agent had no significant influence on the photocatalytic activities of paper. In addition, the photocatalytic paper exhibits quite stable photocatalytic activity under UV-light irradiation and can be used repeatedly. The simple procedure is promising for the manufacture of paper with high photocatalytic activity.