Photocatalytic property and structural stability of CuAl-based layered double hydroxides

Three types of Cu/VIAI layered double hydroxides (LDHs, M=Mg, Zn, Ni) were successfully synthesized by coprecipitation. Powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) and UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectrum (UV-vis) were used to confirm the formation of as-synthesized solids with good crystal structure. The photocatalytic activity of those LDH materials for CO2 reduction under visible light was investigated. The experimental results show that CuNiAl-LDHs with narrowest band gap and largest surface areas behave highest efficiency for methanol generation under visible light compared with CuMgAl-LDHs and CuZnAl-LDHs. The CuNiAL-LDH showed high yield for methanol production i.e. 0.210 mmol/g h, which was high efficient. In addition, the influence of the different M2+ on the structures and stability of the CuMAI-LDHs was also investigated by analyzing the geometric parameters, electronic arrangement, charge populations, hydrogen-bonding, and binding energies by density functional theory (DFT) analysis. The theoretical calculation results show that the chemical stability of LDH materials followed the order of CuMgAl-LDHs > CuZnAl-LDHs > CuNiAl-LDHs, which is just opposite with the photocatalytic activity and band gaps of three materials. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.