Metal-Organic Frameworks Meet Metallic Oxide on Carbon Fiber: Synergistic Effect for Enhanced Photodegradation of Antibiotic Pollutant.

Photodegradation shows a potential strategy for alleviating the excessive antibiotics crisis. The synergistic effect of various metal compounds immobilized on conductive substrates has been considered for wastewater treatment. However, developing a facile and universal approach for rational design and enhancing photocatalytic properties has endured extreme challenges. Herein, we develop a strategy to facilitate the photocatalytic reactions by designing a composite architecture of ZIF-8 ligand binding to the in-situ synthesis ZnO seed layer on carbon fiber. In this architecture, the dissolution and release of the seed layer in the excessive 2-Methylimidazole methanol solution were used as the binder to enhance the interplay between organic ligand and substrate. As an evaluated system for antibiotic contaminants, the photodegradation of tetracycline hydrochloride was performed with a removal efficiency of 88.47% (TC = 50 mg/L, pH = 4, 0.08 g of photocatalyst, illumination within 100 min). Moreover, the photocatalyst exhibited a steady photocatalytic activity (75.0%) after five cycles. The present work demonstrated a strategy for enhancing the photocatalytic performances of carbon fiber and accordingly provided useful perception into the design of the synergistic structure.

Color construction of multi-colored carbon fibers using glucose.

Carbon fibers (CFs) have attracted attention in the automotive, aviation, and aerospace industries. However, the coloration of CFs is challenging due to their brittleness, inertness, complexity, and time/energy-intensive processes. Herein, inspired by the naturally grown protrusive nanostructures on the green central surface of peacock back feathers, we report an in-situ self-growing strategy for developing carbon spheres (CSs) on the CFs surface to achieve color tuning. This is achieved via the dynamic growth of CSs using glucose as the feeding material. Combined with the coloration process, the interaction between CSs and CFs promotes stable interfacial forces in integrated molding. This strategy allows the coloring system to continuously vary its color in a designated manner, thereby, endowing it with satisfactory mechanical robustness, acid durability, and light fastness. We anticipate this developed approach can be potentially competitive in the color construction of CFs with multi-colors due to its low-cost manufacturing.