Preparation and characterization of electrospun TiO2/WPU/PVA nanofibers

TiO2/WPU/PVA nanofibers were prepared by electrospinning with modified nano-TiO2, waterborne polyurethane (WPU) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as main materials that were blended mechanically. The nanofibers morphologies and physical states were investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetry analysis (TG), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and UV-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy. Scanning electron microscopy observations revealed that nano-TiO2 was modified by r-aminopropyltriethoxysilanehe in order to improve the dispersion of nano-TiO2 in WPU/PVA matrix and the spinning quality of composite fibers was improved by adding proper amount of modified nano-TiO2. When the content of modified nano-TiO2 was 1%, the composite fibers with uniform diameter distribution were obtained. Results from FTIR and TG suggested that modified nano-TiO2 had been successfully introduced to the WPU/PVA nanofibers and TiO2/WPU/PVA nanofibers had the best thermal stability when the content of modified nano-TiO2 was 1%. Results from UV-Vis suggested that the photocatalytic performance of composite nanofibers that degraded methyl orange was enhanced by the addition of modified nano-TiO2.