Reusable electrospun mesoporous ZnO nanofiber mats for photocatalytic degradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon dyes in wastewater

We demonstrate a new method for the fabrication of free-standing mats of mesoporous ZnO nanofibers by electrospinning a blend of zinc acetate with a carrier polymer, polyacrylonitrile (PAN) in N,N-dimethyl-formamide (DMF) solvent. Decomposition of PAN by calcination produces porous ZnO nanofibers with fiber diameters in the range of 50–150 nm depending on the electrospinning conditions such as the precursor solution concentration, electric field strength, and solution flow rate. The fibers are characterized for their morphology, phase composition, band gap, crystallinity, surface area, and porosity. In this paper, optimized mats of ZnO nanofibers with an average fiber diameter of 60 nm are shown to be highly effective in the photocatalytic degradation of the PAH dyes – naphthalene and anthracene. Nanofiber mats fabricated here may also find applications in gas sensing, piezoelectric devices, optoelectronics, and photocatalysis.

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► Free-standing dense mats of electrospun mesoporous ZnO nanofibers by a novel blend.
► Reusable ZnO nanofiber mats for photocatalysis of naphthalene and anthracene dyes.
► Potential applications in sensing, piezoelectrics, optoelectronics, and photovoltaics.