The Effect of Interfacial Chemical Bonding in TiO<sub>2</sub>-SiO<sub>2</sub> Composites on Their Photocatalytic NOx Abatement Performance

The chemical bonding of particulate photocatalysts to supporting material surfaces is of great importance in engineering more efficient and practical ...

Wuhan University of Technology

Oral contraceptives and risk of gallbladder disease.

The absorption ability and photocatalytic activity of photocatalytic materials play important roles in improving the pollutants removal effects. Herein, we reported a new kind of photocatalytic material, which was synthesized by simultaneously designing hierarchical porous magnesian (PM) substrate and TiO2 catalyst modification. Particularly, PM substrate could be facilely prepared by controlling its crystal phase (Phase 5, Mg3Cl(OH)5 · 4H2O), while Ag/AgCl particles modification of TiO2 could be achieved by in situ ion exchange between Ag(+) and above crystal Phase. Physiochemical analysis shows that Ag/AgCl/TiO2/PM material has higher visible and ultraviolet light absorption response, and excellent gas absorption performance compared to other controls. These suggested that Ag/AgCl/TiO2/PM material could produce more efficient photocatalytic effects. Its photocatalytic reaction rate was 5.21 and 30.57 times higher than that of TiO2/PM and TiO2/imporous magnesian substrate, respectively. Thus, this material and its intergration synthesis method could provide a novel strategy for high-efficiency application and modification of TiO2 photocatalyst in engineering filed.

An in-situ synthesis of Ag/AgCl/TiO2/hierarchical porous magnesian material and its photocatalytic performance.

The preferential adsorption of targeted contaminants on a photocatalyst surface is highly required to realize its photocatalytic selective decomposition in a complex system. To realize the tunable preferential adsorption, altering the surface charge or polarity property of photocatalysts has widely been reported. However, it is quite difficult for a modified photocatalyst to realize the simultaneously preferential adsorption for both cationic and anionic dyes. In this study, to realize the selective adsorption for both cationic and anionic dyes on a photocatalyst surface, the negative reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanosheets and positive phenylamine (PhNH2) molecules are successfully loaded on the TiO2 surface (PhNH2/rGO-TiO2) with spatially separated adsorption sites, where the negative rGO and positive PhNH2 molecules work as the preferential adsorption sites for cationic and anionic dyes, respectively. It was interesting to find that although all the TiO2 samples (including the naked TiO2, PhNH2/TiO2, rGO-TiO2, and PhNH2/rGO-TiO2) clearly showed a better adsorption performance for cationic dyes than anionic dyes, only the PhNH2/rGO-TiO2 with spatially separated adsorption-active sites exhibited an opposite photocatalytic selectivity, namely, the naked TiO2, PhNH2/TiO2, and rGO-TiO2 showed a preferential decomposition for cationic dyes, while the resultant PhNH2/rGO-TiO2 exhibited an excellently selective decomposition for anionic dyes. In addition, the resultant PhNH2/rGO-TiO2 photocatalyst not only realizes the tunable photocatalytic selectivity but also can completely and sequentially decompose the opposite cationic and anionic dyes.

Phenylamine-Functionalized rGO/TiO2 Photocatalysts: Spatially Separated Adsorption Sites and Tunable Photocatalytic Selectivity.

Visible-light-driven Ag/AgBr/TiO2 /activated carbon (AC) composite was prepared by solgel method coupled with photoreduction method. For comparison, TiO2 , TiO2 /AC, and Ag/AgBr/TiO2 were also synthesized. Their characteristics were analyzed by XRD, SEM-EDS, TG-DSC and UV-vis techniques. Photocatalytic activity and antibacterial performance under visible-light irradiation were investigated by ICP-AES, ATR-FT-IR and spectrophotometry methods using methylene blue and Escherichia coli as target systems, respectively. The results showed that Ag/AgBr was successfully deposited on anatase TiO2 /AC surface, and exhibited a distinct light absorption in the visible region. Ag/AgBr/TiO2 /AC displayed excellent antibacterial performance both in dark and under visible-light illumination. The growth of E. coli cell was inhibited in the presence of Ag/AgBr/TiO2 /AC in dark. Moreover, upon visible-light illumination, a significant damage of cell membrane was noticed. Ag/AgBr/TiO2 /AC was also shown higher photocatalytic efficiency for methylene blue degradation than those of TiO2 , TiO2 /AC, and Ag/AgBr/TiO2 . This is attributed to the synergetic effect between AC and Ag/AgBr/TiO2 , of which AC acts as the role of increasing reaction areas, continuous enriching, and transferring the adsorbed MB molecules to the surface of supported photocatalysts, and the Ag/AgBr/TiO2 acts as a highly active photocatalyst for degrading MB molecules under visible-light irradiation.

The Visible-Light Photocatalytic Activity and Antibacterial Performance of Ag/AgBr/TiO2 Immobilized on Activated Carbon.

The nitrate selectivity of TiO2 has important consequences for its efficiency as a NOx depollution photocatalyst. Most emphasis is typically given to photocatalyst activity, a measure of the rate at which NOx concentrations are reduced, but a reduction in NOx concentration (mainly NO + NO2) is not necessarily a reduction in atmospheric NO2 concentration because the catalytic process itself generates NO2. With NO2 being considerably more toxic than NO, more emphasis on nitrate selectivity, a measure of the NOx conversion to nitrate, and how to maximize it, should be given in engineering photocatalytic systems for improved urban air quality. This study, on the importance of adsorbed water in the photocatalytic oxidation of NOx, has identified important correlations which differentiate the role that water plays in the oxidation of NO and NO2. This observation is significant and offers insights into controlling nitrate selectivity on TiO2 and the potential for increased effectiveness in environmental photocatalyst applications.

Fazhou Wang

State Key Laboratory of Silicate Materials for Architectures

Wuhan University of Technology

The Effect of Interfacial Chemical Bonding in TiO₂-SiO₂ Composites on Their Photocatalytic NOx Abatement Performance

Fazhou Wang

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Wuhan University of Technology

The Effect of Interfacial Chemical Bonding in TiO2-SiO2 Composites on Their Photocatalytic NOx Abatement Performance

State Key Laboratory of Silicate Materials for Architectures

The Effect of Interfacial Chemical Bonding in TiO₂-SiO₂ Composites on Their Photocatalytic NOx Abatement Performance