Enhanced photocatalytic activity of Titania nanorods Encapsualted MWCNT nanocomposite coated fabrics for fast degradation of Methylene blue dye

Abstract

Highly photocatalytic active composite structure of Titania (TiO2) Nanorods encapsulated multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) has been designed for photodegradation of dye effluents. To catalyze the degradation of methylene blue dye a series of TiO2 Nanorods encapsulated MWCNT composite photocatalyst were synthesize by using different MWCNT content (0.05-0.5 %). Titania Nanorods were synthesized by the facile hydrothermal method. The composite ink is printed over the different substrate such as cotton, polyester and nonwoven fabrics. The results demonstrated that the optimized composition of CNT encapsulated in TiO2 Nanorods narrowed the energy band gap which subsequently fastens the visible light absorption and photodegradation of methylene blue dye. The effective amount of MWCNT and high surface area morphology of Titania Nanorods acted together to inhibit the recombination of photogenerated electrons and holes. The photo activities were evaluated by degradation of methylene blue dye under visible irradiation at the regular time interval of 15 min. It was found that the TiO2 Nannorods /MWCNT composite coated nonwoven cotton substrate demonstrated the highest photodegradation of methylene blue dye with 0.3 % of CNT. The reaction rate was higher than that of TiO2 Nanorods Nanorods and MWCNT structures, respectively, effectively degraded 98% dye effluents within 90 min.The enhanced visible photocatalytic activity. The excellent dye degradation efficiency of TiO2 Nanorods/MWCNT coated fabric can be attributed to the synergetic effects of Titania Nanorods morphology and CNT encapsulation as well as the porous morphology of nonwoven fabric which promote the generation of ˙OH for MB degradation. The fabricated composite structure is expected for practical industrialization applications and our proposed designed strategy will provide a generic route towards the design of textile structured photocatalyst.