Cu0-decorated, carbon-doped rutile TiO2 nanofibers via one step electrospinning: Effective photocatalyst for azo dyes degradation under solar light

• Formation of metallic copper nanoparticles-doped titania carbon nanofibers.
• Nanofibers were prepared in one step via electrospinning technique.
• Nanofibers appeared a high photodegradation activity for different azo dyes.
• Nanofibers depict a high photodegradation activity for three cycles.
• Nanocatalyst can be used for different catalytic reactions.

In this study, zero valent copper nanoparticles (Cu0 NPs)-decorated, carbon-doped titania nanofibers were successfully prepared by electrospinning of a solution composed of titanium isopropoxide (TIP), polyvinylpyrroliodine (PVP), and copper(II) acetate tetrahydrate. The calcination of the formed nanofiber mats in Ar atmosphere at 850 °C led to produce good morphology nanofibers. The produced powder was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), and field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). Characterization techniques indicated that the obtained material is Cu0 NPs-decorated, carbon-doped TiO2 nanofibers. The synthesized nanofibers were used as photocatalyst for the effective degradation of reactive black 5 (RB5) and methyl red (MR) azo dyes in aqueous solution. The introduced nanofibers showed good photodegradation activity under sunlight. Overall, introduced nanofibers revealed a better photocatalytic activity when compared to pristine TiO2 nanofibers. The better performance was due to the removal of RB5 and MR at 83% and 65%, respectively. This study opens a new avenue to produce transition metal-decorated, carbon-doped titania nanofibers in a single production step for the use in different catalytic reactions.

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