Firmly-supported porous fabric fiber photocatalysts: TiO2/porous carbon fiber cloth composites and their photocatalytic activity

The use of a support may overcome the limitations of nano-photocatalysts (poor recyclability, secondary pollution, and agglomeration that decreases photocatalytic activity); however, supports such as fibers, fabrics, films, and foams, still exhibit many defects (low loadings, non-uniform particle loadings, and insufficient loading firmness). In this study, we fabricated TiO 2 /porous carbon fiber cloth through a microwave hydrothermal method and thermal reduction. The highly porous structure of fiber could provide abundant space to firmly-supported TiO 2 nanoparticles. Therefore, the results showed that large amounts of TiO 2 were uniformly and firmly loaded onto the porous carbon fiber cloth, and the obtained composite exhibited excellent photocatalytic activity. The initial loading rate reached 51 wt.%. Even after 10 photocatalytic cycles, the pollutant degradation rate exceeded 95%, and 55% of TiO 2 was retained, showing its stability. This investigation provides a method to prepare supported photocatalysis, which can greatly promote their practical applications for wastewater treatment.