ZnO crystalline nanofibers with photocatalytic properties obtained from pork skin gelatin and zinc acetate fibers

In this work, nanofibers of zinc oxide (ZnO) were obtained through electrospinning of pork skin gelatin (PSG) and zinc acetate (ZnAc) dissolved in deionized water and acetic acid followed by a calcination process at 550 °C. The influence of metallic salt concentration and the weight percentage of the support polymer in the electrospinning precursor solution was systematically examined in relation to the morphological properties of the resulting calcined fibers. The fibers obtained were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) techniques. XRD patterns confirmed the formation of ZnO nanofibers after the calcination process. In contrast, SEM images documented the effect of synthesis parameters during the transformation of PSG/ZnAc fibers to ZnO ones. The results showed that the morphology and continuity of the calcined fibers depend on adequate relations among the ZnAc and PSG precursors. Furthermore, ZnO nanofibers obtained from the optimal electrospinning process were tested for the photodegradation of MB under UV irradiation (253 nm), resulting in 93.85% degradation in 3 h.