Preparation and properties of NaTaO₃ deposited on carbon fiber photocatalytic composites

The NaTaO₃-carbon fiber (CF) composite with excellent photocatalytic activity was prepared through sol-gel method combined with dip-coating technique by using TaCl₅ and sodium acetate as the raw materials, cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) as the surfactant. The morphology, crystalline phase and photocatalytic properties of NaTaO₃-CF composites were investigated by SEM, TEM and XRD. The dye rhodamine B (RhB) was used as a model contaminant to evaluate the photocatalytic activity of NaTaO₃-CF composites. The results indicate that NaTaO₃-CF composites have excellent photocatalytic performance and the removal ratio of RhB is achieved 99.35% under dark adsorption for 30 min and irradiation for 80 min. The NaTaO₃-CF composites also present favorable stability and photocatalytic activity after recycling, the removal ratio of RhB is remained above 89.17% after five cycles. The photodegradation of RhB is in accordance with the pseudo first order reduction kinetics model and could be described by this kinetic model.