Er-doped titanium dioxide/silicon dioxide fibres with enhanced photodegradation performance

In this work, an erbium-doped titanium dioxide/silicon dioxide (Er@TS) fibrous composite was fabricated by a combination of sol–gel process, electrospinning and calcination. The precursor sol was prepared from one-pot condensation of Er trioxide, tetraethyl orthosilicate and titanium n-butoxide in the mixture of nitric acid solution (pH = 2.0) and ethyl alcohol. After the addition of poly(vinylpyrrolidone), the precursor of fibrous membrane was fabricated by electrospinning, followed by calcination to form the Er@TS composite. The physicochemical properties of fibrous membranes, both of before and after calcination, were characterised. The earth rare element Er is aiming to enhance the overall photodegradation capability of nanofibrous composite. The results of photodegradation tests demonstrated that the Er@TS composite exhibit enhanced photocatalytic activity for degradation of methyl orange.