A facile approach for high surface area electrospun TiO2 nanostructures for photovoltaic and photocatalytic applications

• Published in: Dalton transactions : an international journal of inorganic chemistry Vol. 43; no. 12; pp. 483 - 4837
• Main Authors: Arun, T. A, Madhavan, Asha Anish, Chacko, Daya K, Anjusree, G. S, Deepak, T. G, Thomas, Sara, Nair, Shantikumar V, Nair, A. Sreekumaran
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 28.03.2014
• Subjects: Acetic Acid - chemistry; Azo Compounds - chemistry; Catalysis; Electric Power Supplies; Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; Nanocomposites - chemistry; Nanocomposites - radiation effects; Nanocomposites - ultrastructure; Nanofibers - chemistry; Nanofibers - ultrastructure; Phenol - chemistry; Photolysis; Polyvinyls - chemistry; Powder Diffraction; Surface Properties; Titanium - chemistry; Titanium - radiation effects; Ultraviolet Rays; Water Pollutants, Chemical - chemistry; X-Ray Diffraction; Zinc Oxide - chemistry
• ISSN: 1477-9226; 1477-9234
• DOI: 10.1039/c3dt52780h

A rice-shaped TiO 2 -ZnO composite was prepared by electrospinning a mixture comprising the precursors of TiO 2 and ZnO in polyvinyl acetate polymer dissolved in N , N -dimethyl acetamide. The electrospun nanofibers upon heat treatment in air resulted in collapse of the continuous fiber morphology and the formation of the rice-shaped TiO 2 -ZnO composite. The TiO 2 -ZnO composite was then treated with dilute acetic acid under hydrothermal conditions to etch ZnO from the TiO 2 -ZnO composite to get coral-shaped anisotropic TiO 2 . The structural anisotropy of TiO 2 produced by the selective etching of ZnO resulted in a high surface area of 148 m 2 g −1 for the TiO 2 . The initial and final materials were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Raman and XPS spectroscopies, powder X-ray diffraction and BET surface area measurements. The utility of the anisotropic TiO 2 in photovoltaics and photocatalysis was explored. Dye-sensitized solar cells fabricated using the TiO 2 showed a conversion efficiency of 6.54% as against 4.8% for a control experiment with the rice-shaped TiO 2 . The anisotropic TiO 2 also showed good photocatalysis in the degradation of methyl orange dye and phenol. The photovoltaic and photocatalytic properties of coral reef-shaped TiO 2 produced by selective etching of ZnO from electrospun rice-shaped TiO 2 -ZnO composites.