A novel preparation of Ag@TiO2 tubes and their potent photocatalytic degradation efficiency

Hollow TiO2 nanotubes have been produced by combining electrospinning with a soaking process and controlled calcination method. Silver was successfully coated on the surface of the TiO2 tubes through the immersion burning method. Structure and components of TiO2 and Ag/TiO2 tubes were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Morphology was studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The photocatalysis properties were verified by degradation of methyl orange (MO) dye. From the results, the Ag/TiO2 hollow tubes could degrade methyl orange efficiently under UV light irradiation, showing excellent photocatalytic activity over pure TiO2. The synthesis mechanism of the Ag/TiO2 tubes and the mechanism for silver-enhanced photocatalytic activity have been conjectured.