C,N co-doped TiO2 hollow nanofibers coated stainless steel meshes for oil/water separation and visible light-driven degradation of pollutants

Chunyu Wang; Yingze Liu; Hao Han; Desheng Wang; Jieyi Chen; Renzhi Zhang; Shixiang Zuo; Chao Yao; Jian Kang; Haoguan Gui

doi:10.1038/s41598-023-28992-4

C,N co-doped TiO₂ hollow nanofibers coated stainless steel meshes for oil/water separation and visible light-driven degradation of pollutants

Sci Rep. 2023 Apr 7;13(1):5716. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-28992-4.

Authors

Chunyu Wang^{1

2}, Yingze Liu², Hao Han¹, Desheng Wang¹, Jieyi Chen³, Renzhi Zhang³, Shixiang Zuo^{3

4}, Chao Yao^{3

4}, Jian Kang⁵, Haoguan Gui^{6

7

8}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of NBC Protection for Civilian, Beijing, 102205, China.
² Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China.
³ School of Petrochemical Engineering, Changzhou University, Changzhou, 213164, China.
⁴ Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Advanced Catalytic Materials and Technology, Advanced Catalysis and Green Manufacturing Collaborative Innovation Center, Changzhou University, Changzhou, 213164, China.
⁵ State Key Laboratory of NBC Protection for Civilian, Beijing, 102205, China. larance0130@163.com.
⁶ Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China. guihaoguan@cczu.edu.cn.
⁷ School of Petrochemical Engineering, Changzhou University, Changzhou, 213164, China. guihaoguan@cczu.edu.cn.
⁸ Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Advanced Catalytic Materials and Technology, Advanced Catalysis and Green Manufacturing Collaborative Innovation Center, Changzhou University, Changzhou, 213164, China. guihaoguan@cczu.edu.cn.

Abstract

Complex pollutants are discharging and accumulating in rivers and oceans, requiring a coupled strategy to resolve pollutants efficiently. A novel method is proposed to treat multiple pollutants with C,N co-doped TiO₂ hollow nanofibers coated stainless steel meshes which can realize efficient oil/water separation and visible light-drove dyes photodegradation. The poly(divinylbenzene-co-vinylbenzene chloride), P(DVB-co-VBC), nanofibers are generated by precipitate cationic polymerization on the mesh framework, following with quaternization by triethylamine for N doping. Then, TiO₂ is coated on the polymeric nanofibers via in-situ sol-gel process of tetrabutyl titanate. The functional mesh coated with C,N co-doped TiO₂ hollow nanofibers is obtained after calcination under nitrogen atmosphere. The resultant mesh demonstrates superhydrophilic/underwater superoleophobic property which is promising in oil/water separation. More importantly, the C,N co-doped TiO₂ hollow nanofibers endow the mesh with high photodegradation ability to dyes under visible light. This work draws an affordable but high-performance multifunctional mesh for potential applications in wastewater treatment.

Abstract

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