Jianing Dong1, Xinnan Zhang2, Xiuli Dong3, Kim Hoong Ng4, Zailai Xie5, I-Wen Peter Chen6, Yun Hau Ng7, Jianying Huang3, Yuekun Lai8. 1. College of Chemical Engineering, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350116, PR China; State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, PR China. 2. National Engineering Laboratory for Modern Silk, College of Textile and Clothing Engineering, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215123, PR China. 3. College of Chemical Engineering, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350116, PR China. 4. College of Chemical Engineering, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350116, PR China; Department of Chemical Engineering, Ming Chi University of Technology, New Taipei City, 24301, Taiwan. 5. Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Electrochemical Energy Storage Materials, College of Chemistry, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350116, Fujian, China. 6. Department of Applied Science, National Taitung University, Taitung, 95092, Taiwan. 7. School of Energy and Environment, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, PR China; Particles and Catalysis Research Group, School of Chemical Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia. 8. College of Chemical Engineering, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350116, PR China. Electronic address: yklai@fzu.edu.cn.
Abstract
Strive to develop the interaction and efficient co-catalysts is one of the vital projects in realizing hybrid photocatalytic systems for water remediation. In this work, p-type porous Co3O4 was embedded onto n-type vertical TiO2 nanotube via an in-situ thermal etching method. ZIF-67 was employed as the structural template for Co3O4, which then augmented the light harvesting ability of the resultant photocatalyst. Such improvement was prompted by the light reflecting and directing attributes of porous Co3O4. Therefore, a remarkable MB removal rate was attained under sunlight irradiation, with superoxide radical being identified as the major reactive species. Photoelectric properties evaluation also verified that the p-n heterojunction developed herein exhibits outstanding charges separation ability with low impedance, particularly under light irradiation. This work highlights the idea on coupling both porous and p-n heterojunction engineering in augmenting photoactivity of catalyst, while offering insights in such structure-mediating approach.
Strive to develop the interaction and efficient co-catalysts is one of the vital projects in realizing hybrid photocatalytic systems for water remediation. In this work, p-type porous pan> class="Chemical">Co3O4 was embedded onto n-type vertical TiO2 nanotube via an in-situ thermal etching method. ZIF-67 was employed as the structural template for Co3O4, which then augmented the light harvesting ability of the resultant photocatalyst. Such improvement was prompted by the light reflecting and directing attributes of porous Co3O4. Therefore, a remarkable MB removal rate was attained under sunlight irradiation, with superoxide radical being identified as the major reactive species. Photoelectric properties evaluation also verified that the p-n heterojunction developed herein exhibits outstanding charges separation ability with low impedance, particularly under light irradiation. This work highlights the idea on coupling both porous and p-n heterojunction engineering in augmenting photoactivity of catalyst, while offering insights in such structure-mediating approach.