Enhanced photocatalytic removal of nitric oxide over\xa0Ag-decorated ZnSn(OH)6 microcubes

Minh-Thuan Pham,Jheng-Jie Jiang,Sheng-Jie You,Ya-Fen Wang,Hong-Huy Tran,Truc Mai Thi Nguyen,Hieu Trung Nguyen,Nguyen Thi Van

doi:10.1186/s42834-022-00125-y

Abstract

Presently, most of the population has been facing a string of severe air pollution problems that include the intensive emission of nitric oxide (NO), which requires a practical approach to sustain our living conditions. Herein, Ag nanoparticles (Ag NPs)-decorated ZnSn(OH)6 microcubes (Ag:cZHS) photocatalysts are synthesized and used for photocatalytic NO removal under solar light activation. The properties of the newly obtained photocatalysts are comprehensively characterized by a series of typical methods. The NO removal performance over the c:ZHS photocatalysts was increased markedly upon being combined with Ag NPs because of the surface plasmon resonance effect. The contribution of electron (e−), hole (h+), hydroxyl radical (•OH), and oxygen radicals (•O2) was investigated through trapping tests and electron spin resonance analysis. Also, the by-products and apparent quantum efficiency of the photocatalysts were thoroughly studied.

Highlights

In recent decades, with the rapid development of advanced industries, environmental pollution has become increasingly severe [1, 2]
The photocatalytic Nitric oxide (NO) removal efficiency of the cZHS increases 8, 14, 33, and 27% with the 5, 10, 20, and 30% of Ag nanoparticles (Ag NPs) decorated on the cZHS, respectively
These results indicate that the photocatalytic activity of the materials can be decreased by adding too little or too much Ag NPs

Summary

Introduction

With the rapid development of advanced industries, environmental pollution has become increasingly severe [1, 2]. The mass emission of several toxic gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrogen oxide (NOx) from manufacturing, transportation, factory, and power plant activities represents an pressing concern to the global environment and human health [3]. Nitric oxide (NO) is a primary component of NOx released during combustion processes [6], the NO removal from the atmosphere is an important task for solving air pollution problems. Extensive research on photocatalytic NO removal from ambient air has been performed using various methods, such as selective catalytic reduction, several methods have been implemented to reduce the bandgap of cZHS materials, including the combination with noble metals (gold, copper, silver), metal oxides (zin oxide, tin oxide) [11, 18, 19], and nonmetals (carbon, sulfur) [20, 21]. The metal decoration is one of the best ways to enhance the photocatalytic performance of the materials thank to the surface plasmon

Methods

Results

Conclusion