Polymer-based TiO_(2)nanocomposite membrane:synthesis and organic pollutant removal

Titanium dioxide(TiO_(2))nanoparticles are efficient photocatalysis for treating organic pollutants in water.Immobilizing TiO_(2)nanoparticles not only enables the reuse of nanoparticles but also prevents the harmful impact of releasing nanoparticles into the aquatic environment.In this study,a porous composite microfiber membrane based on polyacrylonitrile(PAN)with TiO_(2)nanoparticles has been synthesized by electrospinning technique.The new membrane system has exhibited excellent adsorptive-photocatalytic property to degrade Methylene blue(MB).Using the nonlinear form of the pseudo-first-order,pseudo-second-order,Elovich,and Intra-particle diffusion models,the adsorption mechanism was analyzed.Coupling with adsorption and photocatalysis,the efficiency of this membrane system was illustrated via the multistage linear form of the pseudo-first-order kinetic;and the electrical energy per order(EEO)confirmed the lowest energy requirements to transfer selected pollutants.Combining the results of SEM,BET,FTIR,XRD and TGA,it revealed the relationship of microstructure,composition,and MB decomposition performance.The finding presents new knowledge for material design and evaluation of polymers/oxides membrane systems for remediating organic pollutants in water.

A facile solution approach for fabrication of small-sized MoSe_(2) with few layers as an efficient hydrogen evolution electrocatalyst

Unlike fossil fuels,hydrogen is a renewable and clean energy source.It is available in a large amount and spreads throughout the world.When reacting with oxygen,hydrogen releases energy to produce water as the only product.Hence,hydrogen is a promising alternative to fossil fuels[1].Today,most of hydrogen is produced via the steam methane reforming process,in which hightemperature steam is used to produce hydrogen from a methane source.However,methane is non-renewable,and carbon dioxide is generated in the reforming process.