Surface study of composite photocatalyst based on plasma modified activated carbon fibers with TiO2

Composite photocatalyst was prepared by the nitrogen plasma modification of active carbon fibers (ACF) loaded with TiO2 using a tetrabutyl titanate hydrolyzing process. The surface morphology was characterized by SEM. The specific surface area and the pore size distribution of ACF were compared by N2 adsorption before and after modification loaded TiO2. The surface chemical functional groups and the performance of photocatalyst were investigated by XPS and formaldehyde decomposition respectively. The results show that after carrier surface nitrogen plasma modification, the surface morphology of composite photocatalyst barely changed, the surface area and pore volume decreased slightly, XPS revealed that nitrogen plasma modification could remarkably change the distribution of the oxygen functional groups on the carrier surface and adsorbing oxygen species on the surface of the composite photocatalyst increased. The efficiency of formaldehyde photocatalysis purification was improved by modification.