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Thorny TiO2 nanofibers: Synthesis, enhanced photocatalytic activity and supercapacitance.
Jianan Wang, Guorui Yang, Wei Lyu, Wei Yan
Journal of Alloys and Compounds, Volume 659
doi:10.1016/j.jallcom.2015.10.233
Graphical abstract
Abstract
TiO2 nanofibers with special thorny morphology were successfully synthesized by the combination
of electrospinning and silica etching technique. This elaborate TiO2 nanostructures exhibited
super-high specific surface area (329.7 m2 g−1), which was nearly 13 times higher than that of
primary electrospun TiO2 nanofibers (25.6 m2 g1). The morphological, component, structural and
optical properties were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive
X-ray spectrum (EDS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS) and UV–visible (UV–vis) diffused reflectance spectroscopy (DRS).
Compared with the pristine electrospun TiO2 and SiO2/TiO2 nanofibers, the thorny TiO2 nanofibers
not only possessed improved photocatalytic efficiency in photodegradation of Rhodamine B (RhB),
but also showed higher specific capacitance in the supercapacitor applications. These results
suggest that the thorny TiO2 nanofibers with super large specific surface area exhibit potential
applications in both photocatalysis and supercapacitor fields.
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