Hydrophilic, self-cleaning, and recyclable La-TiO2/PAN nanofibrous membranes rapidly fabricated via electro-centrifugal spinning for photocatalytic organic pollutants

Photocatalytic fibrous membranes are regarded as one of the most proficient materials for environmental remediation because of their excellent photocatalytic activity, porous structure, and outstanding recyclability. However, the poor dispersion performance of photocatalysts in the polymer matrix and the low migration ability to the surface constrain the development of this technology. In this study, a versatile strategy was developed to facilitate the design of hydrophilic nanofibrous membranes with promising photocatalytic activity and robust recyclability by combining the loaded rare earth element La 3+ modified TiO 2 photocatalyst, introducing hyperbranched polymers as dispersants within electro-centrifugal spinning, and applying post-treatment to construct hydrophilic sites. Significantly, the removal efficiency of the fibrous membrane materials on the dye wastewater was as high as 89.34 %, and the treatment efficiency can still reach 81.68 % after five cycles. In addition, the photocatalytic mechanism for the degradation of organic pollutants was also analyzed. This work provides a new method for building advanced photocatalytic nanofibrous membranes, which is expected to be used in the treatment and remediation of environmental wastewater.