Fabrication of Inorganic Oxide Fiber Using a Cigarette Filter as a Template

Abstract

Inorganic oxides with unique physical and chemical properties have attracted much attention because they can be applied in a wide range of fields. Herein, recycled cigarette filters are deacetylated to cellulose filters (CFs), which are then applied as templates to prepare fiber-like inorganic oxides (titanium dioxide, TiO2, and silicon dioxide, SiO2). Inorganic oxides are prepared using CF as a template by a typical sol–gel reaction of metal alkoxides. Owing to the fibrous structure of the CF template, the prepared inorganic oxides (TiO2 and SiO2) show similar fibrous structures, which was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy and nitrogen adsorption–desorption analysis. Moreover, the prepared inorganic oxides (TiO2 and SiO2) show high surface areas and pore volumes. Furthermore, the TiO2 fiber-like materials are evaluated for their photocatalytic properties by analyzing the methylene blue (MB) and methyl orange (MO) degradation. In this study, we provide a clean method, which can convert cellulose acetate-based waste into useful templates to prepare inorganic oxides with relatively simple steps, and the prepared inorganic oxides can be applied in water treatment.