Synthesis of a Fe3O4-rGO-ZnO-catalyzed photo-Fenton system with enhanced photocatalytic performance

In this work, we designed a magnetically-separable Fe₃O₄-rGO-ZnO ternary catalyst, ZnO anchored on the surface of reduced graphene oxide (rGO)-wrapped Fe₃O₄ magnetic nanoparticles, where rGO, as an effective interlayer, can enhance the synergistic effect between ZnO and Fe₃O₄. The effects of three operational parameters, namely irradiation time, hydrogen peroxide dosage, and the catalyst dosage, on the photo-Fenton degradation of methylene blue and methyl orange were investigated. The results showed that the Fe₃O₄-rGO-ZnO had great potential for the destruction of organic compounds from wastewater using the Fenton chemical oxidation method at neutral pH. Repeatability of the photocatalytic activity after 5 cycles showed only a tiny drop in the catalytic efficiency.     

Photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue and sulfisoxazole from water using biosynthesized zinc ferrite nanoparticles

The extensive occurrence of textile and pharmaceutical contaminants and their metabolites in water systems has posed significant concerns regarding their possible threat to human health and the environmental system. As a result, herein ZnFe₂O₄ nanoparticles were synthesized through the use of Monsonia burkeana plant extract. The synthesized nanoparticles were characterized using XRD, FTIR, UV–vis, SEM, EDS, TGA, BET, PL, EPR and VSM. XRD showed that the crystalline structure of ZnFe₂O₄ nanoparticles with a calculated crystal size of 25.03 nm was formed. FT-IR confirmed the characteristic functional groups contained within the M. burkeana plant were deposited on the formed ferrite nanoparticles. BET analysis confirmed the mesoporous nature of ZnFe₂O₄ with an average pore diameter of 31.6 nm. Morphological studies demonstrated that the formed nanoparticles had spherical as well as rod-like shapes. ZnFe₂O₄ photocatalyst illustrated that it may be effortlessly detached by an external magnetic field. The optimum conditions for the 99.8% removal of Methylene Blue was obtained at pH12, within 45min and at the optimum dosage of 25 mg of the catalyst. The as-prepared ZnFe₂O₄ nanoparticles proved to be easily separated and recycled, and remained efficient even after 5 reuses, proving that the material is highly stable. The ROS studies also demonstrated that electrons are the main factors contributing to the degradation of MB. Upon testing the photocatalytic performance of the sulfonamide antibiotic, sulfisoxazole in water showed a degradation of 67%. This study has shown that these materials can be used in targeting textile and pharmaceutically polluted water.     

Synthesis of magnetically recyclable porous CoFe2O4/Rh composites with large BET surface area for enhanced photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutant

The organic pollutants in water have been a great environment challenges to human beings, and photocatalytic degradation is an effective method to solve this problem. In this paper, the Rh-loaded cobalt ferrite CoFe₂O₄ (CFO) nanoparticles have been successfully synthesized by in situ photodeposition of Rh nanoparticles onto the porous CFO particles as the photocatalysts. After incorporating Rh nanoparticles, the CFO/Rh composite has a higher specific surface area and is more efficient in charge separation than the bare CFO. The photocatalytic efficiency of decomposing Malachite Green (MG) is improved from 70% over the bare CFO to 97% over the optimized CFO/Rh in 60 min. The CFO/Rh sample also demonstrates its durability for the degradation of MG in 5 photocatalytic reaction cycles. Additionally, hydroxyl radicals (?OH) and superoxide radicals (?O₂^?) are proved to be the crucial reactive species during the photocatalytic degradation of MG with CFO/Rh, evidenced by the active species capture experiments. This work provides a useful approach to enhance the photocatalytic activity of semiconductors for degrading organic dyes.     

Enhanced the photocatalytic activity of B–C–N–TiO2 under visible light:Synergistic effect of element doping and Z-scheme interface heterojunction constructed with Ag nanoparticles

In order to enhance the photocatalytic activity of TiO₂ under visible light, Ag nanoparticles were introduced into tridoped B–C–N–TiO₂ (TT) catalyst by photoreduction deposition. Ag/B–C–N–TiO₂ (ATT) catalysts with the functions of reducing band gap and carrier recombination were prepared. At the same time, the effect of the amount of Ag on the photocatalytic performance of ATT catalyst was investigated. Through XRD, XPS, PL and other characterization methods, the (211)/(101)/Ag interface heterojunction mechanism similar to the traditional Z-scheme heterojunction was proposed. The intervention of Ag nanoparticles changed the P–N interface heterojunction between (211)/(101) to the (211)/(101)/Ag Z-scheme interface heterojunction. The results show that ATT catalyst exhibits the highest photocatalytic activity when the molar amount of Ag is 0.005% with the MB degradation rate of the ATT catalyst (0.01707 min^?1), which is 14.59 times of TiO₂ (0.00117 min^?1) and 2.02 times of TT (0.00847 min^?1). In addition, the four cycles efficiencies of ATT for MB degradation were all above 94.00%.This study reveals the possibility of construction of Z-scheme heterojunctions between precious metal nanoparticles and different interfaces of TiO₂, and provides a reference for the construction of Z-scheme interface heterojunctions.     

Antibacterial and photocatalytic behaviour of green synthesis of Zn0.95Ag0.05O nanoparticles using herbal medicine extract

The present work aimed to synthesize Zn_0.95Ag_0.05O (ZnAgO) nanoparticles using rosemary leaf extracts as a green chemistry method. The characterization of Ag-doped ZnO nanoparticles was performed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and ultraviolet–visible spectrophotometry (UV–visible). The XRD, FTIR, and UV–visible spectra confirmed the formation of the presence of hexagonal ZnAgO nanoparticles. FESEM micrograph shows that the nanoparticles have been distributed homogeneously and uniformly. The morphology of ZnAgO nanoparticles is quasi-spherical configuration. Also, the mean particle size is in the range of 22–40 nm. The photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue in the presence of Ag-doped ZnO nanoparticles is nearly 98.5% after exposing 100 min. The ultraviolet lamp was used as the light source for photocatalyst degradation. The disc diffusion method was chosen to study the antibacterial activity of as-synthesized ZnAgO nanoparticles. Antibacterial activity of Zn_0.95Ag_0.05O nanoparticles against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli revealed that the as-synthesized ZnAgO nanoparticles were efficient in inhibition of bacterial growth.     

PH-induced structural evolution,photodegradation mechanism and application of bismuth molybdate photocatalyst

In this work, we have elucidated the pH-induced structural evolution of bismuth molybdate photocatalyst based on a hydrothermal synthesis route. With increasing the pH value of precursor solution, pure Bi₂MoO₆ was synthesized at pH 2–5, Bi₂MoO₆-Bi₄MoO₉ mixture was obtained at pH 7–9, pure Bi₄MoO₉ was obtained at pH 11, and pure α-Bi₂O₃ was derived at pH 13. The as-derived samples mainly present particle-like shapes but with different particle sizes (except the observation of Bi₂MoO₆ nanowires in sample S-pH9). The photocatalytic performances between the samples were compared via the degradation of methylene blue (MB) under irradiation of simulated sunlight. The Bi₂MoO₆ sample synthesized at pH 2 exhibited the highest photodegradation performance (η(30 min) = 89.8 %, k_app = 0.05007 min^?1) among the samples. The underlying photocatalytic mechanism and degradation pathways of MB were systematically analyzed. Moreover, the photodegradation performance of the Bi₂MoO₆ photocatalyst was further evaluated at different acidic-alkaline environments as well as in degrading various color and colorless organic pollutants, which provides an important insight into its practical application.     

K–I co-doped crystalline carbon nitride with outstanding visible light photocatalytic activity for H2 evolution

Heteroatomic doping is an effective way to optimize the electronic structure of carbon nitride to boost photocatalytic performance. However, the extra introduced defects could result in the decrease of its crystallinity. In this work, crystalline K–I co-doped carbon nitride (K–I–CCN) was simply synthesized from molten salt ionthermal post-calcination in nitrogen atmosphere. Structure characterization results indicate that compared to K–CCN synthesized from conventional molten salt heat treatment in air, nitrogen heating atmosphere is more conductive for the formation of homogeneous pore structure of the catalyst, which has larger surface area and pore volume, while could repairing some defects and resulting in better polymerization crystallization. In addition, except the implanting of K, I doping is still retained after nitrogen heat treatment, thus forming K–I co-doping structure. Due to the positive charge effect of K–I co-doping, K–I–CCN has a narrower band gap, higher surface charge density and stronger charge transport, so it performs significantly enhanced photocatalytic H₂ evolution activity from water splitting.     

Fabrication of novel ZnTe-based photocatalyst: Synergistic effect of dye sensitization and bridge engineering for boosting hydrogen evolution over ZnTe

Herein, a novel ZnTe-based photocatalyst is successfully synthesized via a facile combination of water-bath and hydrothermal processes. Morphology characterization and X-ray diffraction analysis reveal that ZnTe presents irregular granular shape and cubic crystal structure. Moreover, Mott-Schottky measurement shows that the conduction band potential of ZnTe is ?0.84 V (vs NHE). With Eosin Y (EY) sensitization, ZnTe exhibits superior photocatalytic hydrogen evolution activity (223.5 μmol g^?1 h^?1). Meanwhile, WC-ZnTe heterojunction is constructed by depositing ZnTe nanoparticles on bulk WC and obtains the optimal H₂ generation rate (559.1 μmol g^?1 h^?1) under EY sensitization. Electrochemical and photoluminescence results further prove that WC as electron bridge could reduce the interfacial resistance and suppress e^?-h⁺ pairs recombination. This study explores the potential application of ZnTe as a newly active photocatalyst in photocatalytic water splitting, and emphasizes the synergistic effect of dye sensitization and bridge engineering.     

Novel Bi4O5Br2/MnxZn1-xFe2O4 magnetic composite with an enhanced photodegradation activity and excellent recyclability

Bi₄O₅Br₂/Mn_xZn_1-xFe₂O₄ nanocomposites with impressive photocatalytic and recyclability properties were synthesised using a microemulsion method. In addition to the photocatalytic effect, the crystal structure and morphology, photoelectrochemical characteristics, magnetic effect and photocatalytic mechanism of Bi₄O₅Br₂/Mn_xZn_1-xFe₂O₄ were also investigated. As the best sample, the removal rate of the Bi₄O₅Br₂/Mn_xZn_1-xFe₂O₄ photocatalyst with 7.5 wt% Mn_xZn_1-xFe₂O₄ to rhodamine B (RhB) reached up to 99.4% within 60 min. The enhanced photocatalyst activity was mainly attributed to the type-II heterojunction formed between Bi₄O₅Br₂ and Mn_xZn_1-xFe₂O₄, which not only optimised the energy band structure, but also led to the building of an interior electromagnetic field within the Bi₄O₅Br₂/Mn_xZn_1-xFe₂O₄ heterojunction. Meanwhile, the constantly producing and migrating h⁺ and ·O₂^? were the main active components. In particular, the results of the saturation magnetization tests and magnetic recovery experiments revealed that the magnetic composite photocatalyst can be recovered effectively. The results of the removal rate of RhB remaining at 85.2% after five uses reflected the advantages of the stability of the Bi₄O₅Br₂/Mn_xZn_1-xFe₂O₄ photocatalyst. In brief, this paper presented an original idea to develop a novel composite magnetic photocatalyst and research the enhancement mechanism of photocatalysis.     

Rare earth metals co-doped ZnO/CNTs composite as high performance photocatalyst for hydrogen production from water_triethanolmine mixture

This study investigated the zinc oxide (ZnO) based heterojunction photocatalysts for improved hydrogen production from water splitting. A sol-gel route was adopted to produce terbium (Tb) and samarium (Sm) co-doped ZnO/CNTs composites where CNTs worked as a support material. The built-in redox couples of lanthanides in co-doped TS-ZnO/CNTs composite showed higher hydrogen evolution activity than Sm doped (Sm-ZnO/CNTs) and Tb doped (Tb–ZnO/CNTs) photocatalysts. When triethanolamine was utilized as a sacrificial agent, the TS-ZnO/CNTs photocatalyst result in a remarkable hydrogen evolution rate of 2683 molh^?1g^?1 under visible light illumination. The optimum photocatalyst also showed high stability over five successive hydrogen evolution cycles. The better hydrogen evolution rate with TS-ZnO/CNTs was referred to its fine particle size, high reactive surface area, small optical band gap, suppressed reunification of charge carriers and built-in redox couples. The photocatalytic mechanism, involved in water splitting with TS-ZnO/CNTs photocatalyst, is also deduced in this study. This study can stimulate the attempts towards construction of lanthanides based co-doped semiconductor photocatalysts for efficient hydrogen evolution.