Recent Developments of Electrospinning-Based Photocatalysts in Degradation of Organic Pollutants: Principles and Strategies.

Electrospinning is a simple and cheap process for forming one-dimensional (1D) nanofibers with controllable size, morphology, and chemistry. Besides these, the ultrahigh surface area with industrialization capability has attracted extensive interest in the research community. On the other hand, a photocatalytic process is a promising method for degrading organic pollutants that cannot be removed by conventional wastewater treatment. This review focuses on the recent progress of electrospun nanofibers for the photocatalytic degradation of water pollutants. The linkage between the electrospinning technique and the photocatalytic process is classified into two main categories: (1) polymeric electrospun nanofibers as a sacrificed template to form 1D photocatalysts and (2) polymeric electrospun nanofibers as a carrier of photocatalyst materials. We have thoroughly discussed the principles and fundamental issues of electrospinning as well as two main strategies to design and fabricate nanofiber-based photocatalysts for the ideal photodegradation of organics pollutants. The results of data mapping using VOSviewer demonstrated the recent trend and the importance of this field among researchers and engineers. Moreover, we have elaborated on the limitations and potential benefits of the two categories of electrospinning-based photocatalyst fabrication and practical application that will open new directions for future research.