Direct application of directly-spun carbon nanotube fiber as a fibrous nanocomposite catalyst for environmental remediation

Direct spinning process of carbon nanotube fiber (CNTF) is revisited as a scalable and continuous process to produce a fibrous nanocomposite catalyst for photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants through photo-Fenton reaction. The directly-spun CNTF inevitably contains iron or iron oxide nanoparticles, which are widely used as a nanocatalyst for Fenton reaction, because they are essential catalysts to synthesize CNTF through decomposition of carbon source in chemical vapor deposition reaction. Therefore, CNTF is intrinsically a kind of nanocomposite fibers and has a strong potential to be utilized as a fibrous nanocomposite catalyst. Herein, it is demonstrated that CNTF is an efficient fibrous catalyst to decompose various organic pollutants through photo-Fenton reaction based on its stable reactivity in a wide pH range, weavability to prepare a textile (16 cm²), and recyclability without a structural deformation after washing and repeated usages.