Zhang, H, Sun, R, Wu, H et al. (1 more author) (2018) Enhanced photocatalytic activity of wool fibers having titanium dioxide nanoparticles formed inside their cortex. Nanotechnology, 29 (29). 295606. p. 295606. ISSN 0957-4484
Abstract
A wool-TiO2 nanoparticle composite material having TiO2 nanoparticles both infiltrated in the matrix between macrofibrils inside cortical cells of wool fibers and grafted on the fiber surface is obtained in this study, and the wool-nanoparticle composite material is found to have highly photocatalytic activities with an extremely narrow band gap of 2.8 eV. The wool fibers are obtained using three successive technical steps: wool fibers are swollen by using lithium bromide, then saturated with tetrabutyl titanate ethanol solution and subsequently treated in boiling water. It was demonstrated that the chemical bonds formed between the as-synthesized TiO2 nanoparticles and the wool fibers swollen by lithium bromide include C−Ti4+(Ti3+), N−Ti4+(Ti3+), O−Ti3+, and S−Ti4+(Ti3+) bonds. The modified wool fibers have shown markedly improved photocatalytic efficiency due to their enhanced visible light absorption capability, which is much better than the (N-doped) TiO2 coated wool fibers. In contrast, TiO2 modified wool fibers swollen by using formic acid have poorer photoactivity, this might be due to the elimination of trivalent titanium between TiO2 nanoparticles and the wool fibers.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2018, IOP Publishing Ltd. This is an author-created, un-copyedited version of an article published in Nanotechnology. IOP Publishing Ltd is not responsible for any errors or omissions in this version of the manuscript or any version derived from it. The Version of Record is available online at https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6528/aac1b3. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | wool fiber; infiltration; TiO2 nanoparticles; photocatalytic |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures (Leeds) > School of Design (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 18 Jun 2018 11:20 |
Last Modified: | 18 May 2019 00:42 |
Published Version: | http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1361-652... |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | IOP Publishing |
Identification Number: | 10.1088/1361-6528/aac1b3 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:132171 |