Novel Sc-doped Bi3TiNbO9 ferroelectric nanofibers prepared by electrospinning for visible-light photocatalysis

In this work, a novel Sc-doped Bi3TiNbO9 ferroelectric nanofiber was first prepared by electrospinning. The nanofibers are approximately 100 nm level in diameter. The photocatalytic activity analysis reveals that the Bi3TiNbO9 nanofibers synthesized by electrospinning are superior to powders prepared by the solid-state method, which is mainly attributed to the high specific surface area and high surface activity of the nanofibers. In addition, doping Sc can reduce the band gap of Bi3TiNbO9 and further improve the photocatalytic efficiency. Bi3TiNbO9 nanofibers containing 5 mol% Sc have the highest photocatalytic activity, which can degrade 98.55% of RhB under 405 nm light irradiation for 120 min. In addition, the catalytic mechanism of the catalyst was obtained by scavenger tests, active species capture tests and band structure analyses. After three cycles of photocatalytic experiment, the degradation rate is decreased by only 2.42%, proving that the nanofibers catalyst has excellent stability. This work provides good prospects for the practical application of electrospinning technology in the field of photocatalysis.