2013 KSDF 1229-0033/2013-06/94-101 ⓒ ISSN(Print) 1229-0033 http://dx.doi.org/10.5764/TCF.2013.25.2.94 ISSN(Online) 2234-036X Textile Coloration and Finishing Vol.25,No.2 〈Research Paper〉 94 1. Introduction Among the various metal oxides, extensive efforts are given to the research on titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) for its wide range of applications such as sunscreen, photocatalyst, sensor, solar cell, hydrogen storage, organic waste management etc. 1 5) ‐ . Recently, titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) based photocatalysts have attracted much interest to the environmental scientist for their potential application in environmental remediation by degrading many organic pollutants 4 7) ‐ . Electrospinning of TiO2 nano- particles with polymer solution, such as polyacry- lonitrile (PAN) solution, is preferred to immobilize it on nanofibers in order to facilitate the photocatalyst recovery process, prevent particles agglomeration and increase the photocatalytic activity by increasing surface area which overcome the difficulties of applying pure TiO 2 nanoparticles as a photocatalyst 4,8) . Deposition of TiO2 nanoparticles on the surfaces of nanofibers by electrospinning allow them better exposure to radi- ation and consequently, increased their photocatalytic activity 8) . † Corresponding author: Jeong Hyun Yeum (jhyeum@knu.ac.kr) Tel.: +82-53-950-5739 Fax.: +82-53-950-6744 Good stability, superior fiber-forming and mechanical properties have made PAN a potential candidate for fabricating nanofibers in its pristine, blend or com- posite forms by electrospinning technique 4,8 10) ‐ . Electrospinning is a widely used efficient technique to fabricate polymer nanofibers with excellent archi- tectures and advanced properties. These nanofibers have wide range of applications such as separation filters, sensors, protective clothing, catalysis reaction, wound dressing materials, tissue scaffold, drag delivery, etc. 11 16) ‐ . Though the principle of this process is simple but solution properties and process parameters have a great influence on the structures and properties of the electrospun nanofibers 17 21) ‐ . In this work we have prepared PAN/TiO2 nano- fibers containing different amount of TiO 2 and investi- gated their photocatalytic behaviors in degrading three organic dyes such as fluorescein, rhodamine B, and methylene blue. Effect of TiO2 content on the degra- dation process has been evaluated by using variable amount of TiO2 in PAN/TiO2 nanofibers. In addition, influence of hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) upon the cata- lytic performance of PAN/TiO2 has also been studied. The morphologies and morphological changes of the Abstract: Poly(acrylonitrile) (PAN) nanofibers containing different amounts of titanium dioxide (TiO2) have been prepared by electrospinning technique. Photocatalytic activity of these electrospun PAN/TiO2 nanofibers and the effect of TiO2 content on the photocatalytic efficiency of PAN/TiO2 nanofibers have been evaluated by monitoring the photodecomposition of fluorescein dye, rhodamine B and methylene blue under UV irradiation with respect to irradiation time. Moreover, the effect of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) on the photocatalytic behavior of PAN/TiO2 nanofibers has also been investigated. The results showed that PAN/TiO2 nanofibers are effective photocatalyst and their photocatalytic efficiency increases with the increase of TiO2 content in the PAN/TiO2 nanofibers. It is also observed that the presence of H2O2 significantly enhances the photocatalytic ability of PAN/TiO2 nanofibers. The morphology and the photocatalytic behavior of the PAN/TiO2 nanofibers containing different amounts of TiO2 nanoparticles have been investigated by field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and UV/Visible spectroscopy, respectively. Keywords: electrospinning, poly(acrylonitrile), titanium dioxide, nanofibers, photocatalysis Photocatalytic Activity of Electrospun PAN/TiO 2 Nanofibers in D y e Photodecompositio n Byung Chul Ji, Sang Su Bae, Mohammad Mahbub Rabbani 1 and Jeong Hyun Yeum 1,† Department of Textile System Engineering, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea 1 Department of Bio-fibers and Materials Science, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea (Received: January 24, 2013 / Revised: February 27, 2013 / Accepted: June 17, 2013)