Abstract
We studied the photocatalytic properties of rational designed TiO2-ZnO hybrid nanostructures, which were fabricated by the site-specific deposition of amorphous TiO2 on the tips of ZnO nanorods. Compared with the pure components of ZnO nanorods and amorphous TiO2 nanoparticles, these TiO2-ZnO hybrid nanostructures demonstrated a higher catalytic activity. The strong green emission quenching observed from photoluminescence of TiO2-ZnO hybrid nanostructures implied an enhanced charge transfer/separation process resulting from the novel type II heterostructures with fine interfaces. The catalytic performance of annealing products with different TiO2 phase varied with the annealing temperatures. This is attributed to the combinational changes in Eg of the TiO2 phase, the specific surface area and the quantity of surface hydroxyl groups.
Highlights
We studied the photocatalytic properties of rational designed TiO2-ZnO hybrid nanostructures, which were fabricated by the site-specific deposition of amorphous TiO2 on the tips of ZnO nanorods
Compared to the single element of ZnO and TiO2, coupled ZnO/TiO2 composite displays a largely improved photocatalytic activity, such as in the degradation of phenol, 2-chlorophenol, and pentachlorophenol[5] and in the decomposition of salicylic acid[6]. This enhanced photocatalytic behavior is attributed to the efficient spatial separation of electrons and holes[7]
We have recently developed a simple method to build TiO2ZnO (TZO) nanohybrid structures by a site-specific deposition of titanium oxide on ZnO nanorods (NRs)[12]
Summary
We studied the photocatalytic properties of rational designed TiO2-ZnO hybrid nanostructures, which were fabricated by the site-specific deposition of amorphous TiO2 on the tips of ZnO nanorods. Compared to the single element of ZnO and TiO2, coupled ZnO/TiO2 composite displays a largely improved photocatalytic activity, such as in the degradation of phenol, 2-chlorophenol, and pentachlorophenol[5] and in the decomposition of salicylic acid[6] This enhanced photocatalytic behavior is attributed to the efficient spatial separation of electrons and holes[7]. The TZO nanohybrids show uniform and atomically flat interfaces between ZnO and TiO2 with tunable crystal phases, which are amorphous, anatase and rutile These TZO nanohybrid structures are expected to demonstrate an enhanced photocatalytic behavior. This is due to the improved interfacial structures which suit better the charge-transfer and spatial separation processes of photogenerated charge carriers. The aim is to elucidate the relationship between various TZO structures and their photocatalytic properties
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