Process monitoring of photocatalytic degradation of 2,4-dinitrotoluene by Au-decorated Fe3O4@TiO2 nanoparticles: surface-enhanced Raman scattering method

Recently, the degradation and detection of 2,4-dinitrotoluene (2,4-DNT) capable of producing 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) for environmental and human health risks have been developed. We prepared photoresponsive Au-decorated Fe3O4@TiO2 nanoparticles (Fe3O4@TiO2-Au NPs) under sunlight simulated Xe lamp irradiation. The photodegradation process of 2,4-DNT by Fe3O4@TiO2-Au NPs was successfully monitored by surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). Since SERS monitoring shows intrinsic information about the molecular structure, it was possible to predict the photodegradation of 2,4-DNT. The 2,4-DNT photodegradation mechanism based on two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy (2D-COS), which provides very beneficial information for a deeper understanding of systems, has been identified. We confirmed that Fe3O4@TiO2-Au NPs can be widely used in organic pollutant degradation under sunlight. Furthermore, the combination of SERS based process monitoring and 2D-COS can be a convincing analytical technique for photodegradation studies of organic pollutants. (C) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

A method for the degradation and detection of 2,4-dinitrotoluene (2,4-DNT) capable of producing 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) under sunlight has been developed. The photodegradation process of 2,4-DNT by Fe3O4@TiO2-Au nanoparticles (Fe3O4@TiO2-Au NPs) was successfully monitored by surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). The combination of SERS monitoring and two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy (2D-COS) provides valuable information for understanding the photodegradation mechanism of 2,4-DNT and demonstrates the wide applicability of Fe3O4@TiO2-Au NPs in organic pollutant degradation under sunlight.