Dye-contaminated wastewater from the textile, printing, and chemical industries poses a serious challenge to the environment, and efficient and scalable treatment technologies are urgently needed. Electrospun nanofiber membranes have become a promising solution due to their high specific surface area, adjustable pore structure, and chemical adaptability. This article systematically reviews the research progress of electrospun nanofiber membranes in decolorization based on the filtration mechanism from 2020 to 2025. The membrane materials are mainly divided into three types: polymer-based, composite materials, and surface-grafted. Key separation mechanisms (i.e., size exclusion, electrostatic interaction, ion exchange, and secondary interactions (e.g., hydrogen bonding, π–π stacking)) are discussed concerning membrane performance. Comparative analysis highlights trends in dye rejection efficiency and permeation flux. Polymer membranes have the advantages of a simple structure and strong environmental protection. Composite membranes are enhanced by introducing metal organic framework materials (MOFs), MXenes, or carbon fillers. Surface-grafted membranes show excellent selectivity and anti-fouling properties. Despite the significant progress, challenges such as durability, reusability, and sustainable large-scale production remain to be overcome. Future research should focus on the development of degradable polymers, optimization of green production processes, and large-scale membrane structure design to provide technical support for the application of nanofiber membranes in industrial wastewater decolorization.

This work presents the development of hierarchical niobium pentoxide (Nb₂O₅)-based composite nanofiber membranes for integrated adsorption and photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) pollutants from aqueous solutions. The Nb₂O₅ nanorods were vertically grown using a hydrothermal process on a base electrospun nanofibrous membrane made of polyacrylonitrile/polyvinylidene fluoride/ammonium niobate (V) oxalate hydrate (Nb₂O₅@PAN/PVDF/ANO). They were characterized using field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. These composite nanofibers possessed a narrow optical bandgap energy of 3.31 ​eV and demonstrated an MB degradation efficiency of 96 ​% after 480 ​min contact time. The pseudo-first-order kinetic study was also conducted, in which Nb₂O₅@PAN/PVDF/ANO nanofibers have kinetic constant values of 1.29 ​× ​10⁻² ​min⁻¹ and 0.30 ​× ​10⁻² ​min⁻¹ for adsorption and photocatalytic degradation of MB aqueous solutions, respectively. These values are 17.7 and 7.8 times greater than those of PAN/PVDF/ANO nanofibers without Nb₂O₅ nanostructures. Besides their outstanding photocatalytic performance, the developed membrane materials exhibit advantageous characteristics in recycling, which subsequently widen their practical use in environmental remediation applications.