Novel visible light driven Mg-Zn-In ternary layered materials for photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue

A novel visible driven Mg-Zn-In ternary layered photocatalytic materials were synthesized, for the first time, by the isomorphous replacement of Zn for Mg in coprecipitation system. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and N-2 adsorption/desorption isothermal technique reveal that this ternary photocatalytic material possesses nano-sheet morphology and high crystallinity as well as hierarchy mesoporous structure. UV-vis spectroscopy confirms that the isomorphous replacement of Zn for Mg results in a significant red shift adsorption of the calcined Mg-Zn-In LDHs toward visible light region. The calcined Mg-Zn-In LDHs samples possess a high photocatalytic activity of 98% in degradation of an organic dye methylene blue (MB) under visible light irradiation, for which the possible photocatalytic mechanisms are discussed. Moreover, this ternary layered photocatalytic material exhibits satisfactory re-usability after three cycles and a strong structural memory effect even after calcined at temperature of 800 degrees C. The higher photocatalysis activity under visible light irradiation and facilitate synthesis process enable this ternary layered material to be a promising candidate in utilization of renewable energy for environmental remediation. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.