Simultaneous adsorption and photocatalytic degradation of malachite green using electrospun P(3HB)-TiO2 nanocomposite fibers and films

Abstract

This paper demonstrated the applicability of electrospun P(3HB) film as a dye adsorbent agent. Malachite green (MG) was used as the model dye in this study. Interestingly, the electrospun P(3HB) film exhibited excellent dye adsorption capacity whereby 78% of dye was adsorbed from a 30μM solution of MG. The film was further improvised by incorporating titanium dioxide photocatalysts to form a dual dye treatment system employing adsorption and photocatalytic degradation techniques. The resultant electrospun P(3HB)-50wt TiO2 was capable of completely decolorizing MG in 45min under solar irradiation, which corresponded to 58.7% COD removal. The fully decolorized MG solution also proved to be nontoxic against A. aegypti mosquito larvae. The reapplicability of this film was possible as it induced a decolorization rate of 98% or more at every usage for ten consequent usages. EDX analysis suggested that there were no significant changes in the concentration of titanium (Ti) in the film before and after ten times of usage. The concentration of Ti in cast P(3HB)-50wt TiO2 film was found to decrease significantly during the repeated usage. The electrospun P(3HB)-50wt TiO2 film has high potency as an efficient and inexpensive yet simple method for the dye effluent decolorization, degradation, and detoxification. © 2011 Nanthini Sridewi et al.