A simple route to disperse silver nanoparticles on the surfaces of silica nanofibers with excellent photocatalytic properties

In this work, monodispersed silver nanoparticles decorated SiO ₂ nanofibers were synthesized by electrospinning method, followed by thermal treatment at 600 °C. Powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were used to characterize the composite nanofibers. Accordingly, the detailed formation mechanism of SiO ₂/Ag composite nanofibers was discussed. Furthermore, an excellent catalytic activity of SiO ₂/Ag composite fibers was observed by a degradation reaction of methyl orange (MO) dye.