Coaxial Multiphase Flame for Continuous‐Flow Assembly of Ternary Nanocomposite Photocatalysts

Abstract

AbstractFor the low‐cost production of graphene (G)‐included composites, the growth of graphene on a transition metal in hydrocarbon flames is introduced, where the hydrocarbons are adsorbed on the metal surface, followed by catalytic decomposition, leading to continuous G formation. On the other hand, the flame synthesis of G is still a batch process, limiting the practical applications of such materials. Moreover, the hybridization of G for enhanced catalytic activities requires additional reaction and separation steps. Here, a coaxial multiphase flame is generated and combined with a rotating Cu–Ni foil and ultrasonic bath for the continuous‐flow assembly of ternary G composites with low‐cost and rapid implementation. The continuous flows to generate a multicomponent flame consist of MoS2 particle‐laden N2 gas (inner), titanium isopropoxide vapor‐laden CH4‐air (middle), and ethanol liquid (outer), while Cu–Ni foil plies between the flame and ultrasonic bath for the assembly and dispersion of MoS2–TiO2@G composites. The configuration of the composite can be modulated by replacing the MoS2 flow with a CdS flow to construct CdS–TiO2@G. From photocatalytic H2 production and CO2 reduction tests, the developed coaxial flame provides comparable performance with analogous architectures from the usual multistep methods despite the high‐throughput production.