Enhancement of visible-light activity of polyacrylonitrile-based sulfur-doped ZnO and its application in degradation of phenolic effluents

According to a simply electrospun methodology, polyacrylonitrile-based sulfur-doped ZnO (PSZ) fibers were fabricated using polymeric liquid of PAN/tetrahydrofura/S-ZnO. The spun products were inspected through scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), whereas sulfur, zinc and oxygen were the major components of crunode upon PSZ (431 nm diameter). We measured the kinetics of phenol removal whose <i>&psi;</i> was 0.0076 min⁻¹, and actual photodegradation of phenolic effluents was accelerated by visible light-driven (420 nm wavelength) reactions. Degradation rate of phenol (&omega;) values were greater than 89.4% at 80 min over photocatalyst-coated PAN. A feasible way for effluent purification and its practicability were emphasized, allowing advances in nanofiber-assisted water treatments.