Photocatalytic activities of electrospun tin oxide doped titanium dioxide nanofibers R. Nirmala a,b , Hak Yong Kim a,b, * , R. Navamathavan c , Chaun Yi d , Jeong Jin Won a , Kyungsoo Jeon a , Ayman Yousef e , R. Afeesh e , Mohamed El-Newehy f a Department of Organic Materials and Fiber Engineering, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju 561-756, South Korea b Center for Healthcare Technology & Development, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju 561 756, South Korea c School of Advanced Materials Engineering, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju 561 756, South Korea d Hubei Provincial Research Institute of Environmental Science, Wuhan 430072, China e Bio-nano System Engineering, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju 561-756, South Korea f Petrochemical Research Chair, Department of Chemistry, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O. Box: 2455 Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia Received 18 January 2012; received in revised form 9 February 2012; accepted 10 February 2012 Available online 18 February 2012 Abstract SnO 2 doped TiO 2 electropsun nanofiber photocatalysts were successfully prepared by means of electrospinning process. The surface morphology, structure and optical properties of the resultant products were characterized by field-emission electron microscopy (FE-SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), UV–vis spectroscopy, photoluminescence (PL) and cathodoluminescence (CL) techniques. The utilized physiochemical analyses indicated that the introduced SnO 2 doped TiO 2 nanofibers have a smooth surface and uniform diameters along their lengths. The photocatalytic performance of the composite nanofibers was tested for degradation of methylene blue (MB) and methyl orange (MO) dye solution under ultraviolet (UV) irradiation. Under the UV irradiation, the photocatalytic reaction rate in case of utilizing SnO 2 -doped TiO 2 nanofibers was rapidly increased than that of the pristine TiO 2 nanofibers. Overall, this study demonstrates cheap, stable and effective material for photocatalytic degradation at room temperature. # 2012 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved. Keywords: Electrospinning; Titanium dioxide; Tin oxide; Nanofibers; Photocatalyst 1. Introduction Photocatalytic degradation of several organic contaminants using wide bandgap semiconductor nanoparticles suspended in aqueous solutions as well as immobilized semiconductor thin films has been studied extensively [1–4]. These semiconductor photocatalytic processes have shown a great potential as a low- cost, environmental friendly, and sustainable treatment technology toward the water and waste water industry. Among the numerous semiconductor photocatalyst, titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) photocatalysts are of great importance due to their excellent properties such as a high photocatalytic activity, stability and nontoxicity [5–7]. TiO 2 can be utilized for the photocatalytic degradation in the form of powder, film, nanoparticles and nanotubes [8–12]. If the TiO 2 is used in the form of powder or film, post-treatment process is required to remove the suspended highly dispersed TiO 2 powder which is time consuming and increasing costs of the plant. In such case, nanotube based TiO 2 can be the appropriate materials in which larger surface area, faster electron transport and lower recombination rate resulting in a higher photocatalytic activity and efficiency [12]. One of the main goals in materials science fields is to find the proper photocatalyst with high quantum efficiency and catalytic performance. Therefore, it is important to develop the novel photocatalysts for pollutants degradation which have the proper bandgap, strong oxidative ability and high stability in water solution system. Electrospinning technique is being used to an increasing extend to produce ultra thin nanofibers from a wide range of polymer materials [13–16]. The remarkable high surface area- to-volume ratio, small diameter and high porosity bring www.elsevier.com/locate/ceramint Available online at www.sciencedirect.com Ceramics International 38 (2012) 4533–4540 * Corresponding author at: Department of Organic Materials and Fiber Engineering, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju 561-756, South Korea. Tel.: +82 63 270 2351; fax: +82 63 270 4249. E-mail address: khy@jbnu.ac.kr (H.Y. Kim). 0272-8842/$36.00 # 2012 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ceramint.2012.02.030