Preparation and Characterization of 3D Nano Fe₂O₃–TiO₂@Activated Carbon Fiber Membrane for Waste Water Treatment

A three dimensional nano Fe₂O₃–TiO₂@activated carbon fiber membrane was fabricated by a modified electrospinning process. The physical and chemical properties of the fiber membrane were characterized by SEM, TEM, EDS, XRD, Raman, XPS and DRS, respectively. The results indicate that the fiber membrane prepared at 750 °C for 5 h is composed of nano TiO₂, α-Fe₂O₃ and mesoporous activated carbon fibers with a specific surface area of 184.8 m²/g and abundant mesopores. All these characteristics make the membrane possess high adsorptive and visible-light excitable photocatalytic properties simultaneously. The water purification results show that this composite membrane can be reused for more than 10 times to totally remove the methyl orange in a 50 mL simulated dye waste water with a content of 20 mg/L. While in a simulated heavy metal waste water, this membrane can also be cyclic used for the removal of Cu(II) and As(V) ions with an efficiency more than 90%. The hybrid purification technique is hopeful to be widely used for the treatment of organic or heavy metal waste waters.