Journal
JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
Volume 235, Issue -, Pages 230-236Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2012.07.050
Keywords
TiO2; Carbon nanotubes; Gold photocatalysis; MB; Heterogeneous composite photocatalysts
Categories
Funding
- FEDER through COMPETE - Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade [PEst-C/EQB/LA0020/2011, PTDC/AAC-AMB/110088/2009]
- FCT - Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia
- Major State Basic Research Development Program of China (973 Program) [2010CB635107]
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [51004046, 51075129]
- National Natural Science Foundation of Hubei province of China [2010CDB05806]
- Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia [PTDC/AAC-AMB/110088/2009] Funding Source: FCT
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The photodegradation of methylene blue in aqueous solutions is studied using various photocatalysts, including neat TiO2, CNT-TiO2, Au-TiO2, and Au-CNT-TiO2 composites MB. Materials were synthesized and extensively characterized by XRD, TEM, DRFIT spectroscopy, N-2 adsorption-desorption isotherms, as well as diffuse reflectance UV-vis spectroscopy. By using CNT-TiO2 composite as catalysts, it was found that CNT act as adsorbent and photosensitizer to improve the photoactivity of neat TiO2. Among the CNT-TiO2 composites with different CNT weight ratio (0.2-20%), the 2%CNT-TiO2 shows the best photoactivity. When CNT content is larger than 2%, the surplus CNT may absorb and scatter light photons. Combined with the decrease of TiO2 amount in composite, the photoactivity is reduced. To further improve the photoactivity of 2%CNT-TiO2, different Au loads varying from 0.25% to 1% were introduced by the deposition-precipitation method. The 0.25%Au-2%CNT-TiO2 composite had the highest photoactivity. The increase in activity was explained by the surface plasmon resonance of Au that makes the composite to absorb more photons than the 2%CNT-TiO2, thus overcoming the disadvantages of surplus CNT addition. On the other hand, 0.25%Au-2%CNT-TiO2 composite also presents higher activity than 0.25%Au-TiO2 due to higher adsorption capacity provided by CNT introduction. The addition of CNT and Au simultaneously has a much stronger synergic role than when each of them is introduced individually. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available