Electrospun TiO2 Microspheres with Enhanced Activity for Photocatalytic Degradation of Methylene Blue

Abstract

TiO₂ microspheres were synthesized by electrospinning technique. The morphology, structure and photocatalytic performance in the degradation of methylene blue under UV light irradiation were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and UV-visible absorption spectrophotometer. The results show that TiO₂ microspheres have a high anatase phase content and their surface is assembled by large quantities of TiO₂ nanoparticles, resulting in a porous structure. These TiO₂ microspheres exhibit an excellent photocatalytic performance with a maximum degradation rate of 95.6 %, much higher than that for TiO₂ rods (77.9 %) synthesized by electrospinning technique.