Accelerating the photocatalytic degradation of toluene by unidirectional electron transfer via FRET strategy

Abstract

Humanity's need for clean air has stimulated their research interest in the remediation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). As an environmentally friendly pollution control technology, photocatalysis can easily generate oxidative free radicals for the mineralization of VOCs. Herein, we report a Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET)-inspired Ag/SrSO4/TiO2 photocatalyst with 2.5-fold higher activity for toluene degradation than pristine TiO2. The study of the catalyst reaction mechanism shows that the interlayer SrSO4 between the plasmonic Ag and the photocatalyst TiO2 is the key factor to guide the unidirectional transfer of electrons. A proper thickness of the insulator interlayer (whether SrSO4 or BaSO4) can reduce the recombination efficiency of photo-generated electrons and holes, resulting in an excellent toluene degradation ability. This finding demonstrates the excellent versatility of the catalyst system, which provides a novel direction for the modification of typical photocatalysts.