Carbon dots induced in-situ formation of porous europium micro-networks with enhanced photocatalysis

Abstract

Excellent photocatalysts are highly desirable for clean energy and pollutant treatment. Carbon dots (CDs)-based composite photocatalysts have been widely studied and utilized in catalytic fields. However, the preparation of the photocatalysts with high catalytic activity still faces a great challenge. Herein, white-light-driven CDs-based porous europium micro-networks (CDs@P-Eu-MNs) composite photocatalysts are prepared by a facile in-situ growth strategy. CDs can affect the morphology and produce a large number of porous structures of CDs@P-Eu-MNs. Importantly, the introduction of CDs not only increases the light absorption, but also promotes the separation of photogenerated charge carriers, and thus improve photocatalytic performance of CDs@P-Eu-MNs composites. CDs@P-Eu-MNs show the highest photocurrent density, which can be used for the highly-efficient photodegradation of rhodamine 6G dyes with almost 95% degradation rate under low power white light (20 W) without any radical generating agents such as H2O2. Therefore, this new and efficient CDs@P-Eu-MNs photocatalyst will have a great application prospect in water pollution treatment.