Novel electrospun membranes based on PVDF fibers embedding lanthanide doped ZnO for adsorption and photocatalytic degradation of dye organic pollutants

Abstract New hybrid materials based on lanthanide (Ln) doped ZnO nanoparticles (Ln=Sm,La,Er) reinforced in PVDF membranes were prepared by electrospinning method, materials that have not been reported so far. Photocatalysts with 22 % and 37 % content of inorganic nanostructures for degradation of some organic dyes (Methylene Blue (MB) and Rhodamine B (RhB)) under visible light irradiation were obtained. The materials were evaluated in terms of crystalline structure (XRD), surface morphology (SEM), mechanical and adsorption/desorption properties. The highest values of the color removal efficiency were observed for PVDF/ZnO:La (37 %) membrane, and they were of 96.33 % for MB dye degradation, and 93.36 % for RhB degradation, respectively. Depending on the material type and initial dye concentration, the rate constant values were between 10−3 and 10−2 min−1. Moreover, photocatalytic stability was determined for PVDF/ZnO:La (37 %) after ten cycles (98 %), indicating that recovery and reuse can be done successfully.