Multifunctional polyacrylonitrile‐<scp>Z</scp>n<scp>O</scp>/<scp>A</scp>g electrospun nanofiber membranes with various <scp>Z</scp>n<scp>O</scp> morphologies for photocatalytic, <scp>UV</scp>‐shielding, and antibacterial applications

Abstract

ABSTRACT New multifunctional polyacrylonitrile (PAN)‐ZnO/Ag composite electrospun nanofiber membranes consisting of pineal‐type, flower‐type, and sea‐urchin‐type ZnO morphologies were prepared using a single‐capillary electrospinning technique, hydrothermal ZnO synthesis, and Ag reduction. The various ZnO architectures exhibited differences in photocatalytic activity and UV‐shielding efficiency, and were ranked as follows: sea‐urchin type &gt; flower type &gt; pineal type. Sea‐urchin‐type ZnO features a higher surface‐to‐volume ratio than other ZnO architectures do because of its distinctive structure, thus yielding higher performance. The present study demonstrated that self‐standing PAN‐ZnO/Ag composite fiber membranes, especially those with the sea‐urchin‐type ZnO structure, can be applied in multifunctional textiles such as water purification filters and antibacterial and UV‐shielding clothes. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2015 , 53 , 262–269