Rechargeable Photoactive Silk-Derived Nanofibrous Membranes for Degradation of Reactive Red 195

Abstract

Constructing nanosized photoactive membrane materials would facilitate the pretreatment of dyeing wastewater and reducing environmental pollution. However, preparation of such membrane materials remains tremendously challenging. In this work, we fabricate the silk-derived nanofibrous membranes modified with 3,3′,4,4′-benzophenone tetracarboxylic dianhydride (BDSNM) that could yield reactive oxygen species (ROS) driven under UV light irradiation. The premise of this study is that BDSNM can store photoactive activity at UV light and release ROS under dark conditions. The resultant BDSNM exhibited extra-fine fiber diameter (129 nm), larger surface area (13.8 m2 g–1), superhydrophilicity, fast ROS production, good activity storing capacity, and good degradation capacity for reactive red 195 (>99.9999%) within 30 min. The effective synthesis of such economic and fascinating BDSNM may pave a way for fabrication of photoactive membranes for dye degradation.