Abstract
Micromorphology characteristics of layered double hydroxides are important to establish their performances to act as adsorbents and catalysts/photocatalysts. Herein, we report the fabrication of ZnFeAl layered double hydroxides (LDHs) (defined by a molar ratios Zn/Fe/Al 2/0.5/0.5), in a tailored aqueous-organic synthesis medium, by using the coprecipitation method. The nature of the organic solvent (e.g.: ethanol, ethyl acetate, glycerol and toluene) was used as a controlled variable for obtaining specific morphology characteristics of ZnFeAl. XRD, FTIR, UV-Vis-DR spectroscopy and SEM microscopy have been used to characterize the structural, optical and textural features of ZnFeAl. Results show that the controlled aqueous-organic synthesis medium established important changes in the structural features and the micromorphology characteristics (e.g.: particle sizes and their interconnection patterns) of ZnFeAl, as indicated by the results of XRD and SEM analyses. The FTIR spectra revealed that most of the interlayer anions are carbonate, even though the initial salts precursors contain nitrates or sulfates anions. Furthermore, the UV-Vis-DR results underline that the band gaps of the LDH derived oxides changed in a significant manner, as a function of the nature of the organic solvent. Such that, ZnFeAl prepared in the presence of ethanol and ethyl acetate show band gap values lower than 3 eV and thus could be better activated under visible light. These results should be inspiring for fabricating layered double hydroxides with a controlled micromorphology for specific applications for environmental cleanup.
Highlights
The environment pollution is nowadays a constant concern for scientists, political and administration leaders and even for common people
Layered double hydroxides (LDHs) are a class of anionic clays that are emerging as suitable candidate for cleaning the water due to their performant adsorbent and catalytic or photocatalytic properties [4,5,6,7,8,9,10]
The planes indexation (Table 1) indicate that the double layered structure is confirmed, since the main planes characteristic to LDHs were found for all samples, but the structures are largely distorted in comparison with samples having similar network composition, prepared in aqueous medium only [13]
Summary
The environment pollution is nowadays a constant concern for scientists, political and administration leaders and even for common people. Since the water pollution cannot be entirely avoided, the preparation of potable water needs special attention, especially when the available source are big rivers collecting in their flowing course wastewater outpoured upstream. In this context, there is a high interest to develop performant materials for the adsorption and/or (photo)catalytic transformation of low concentrations of harmful and stable compounds from wastewaters [3]. Layered double hydroxides (LDHs) are a class of anionic clays that are emerging as suitable candidate for cleaning the water due to their performant adsorbent and catalytic or photocatalytic properties [4,5,6,7,8,9,10]. Their cost-effective synthesis methods, using “green” precursors, are another reason for the interest of the scientific community as well as that of companies specialized in adsorbents and catalysts manufacturing
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