Fine Characterization of Natural SiO2-Doped Catalyst Derived from Mussel Shell with Potential Photocatalytic Performance for Organic Dyes

Zhen Wang,Jian Guo,Yaning Wang,Yarui Zhou,Wendong Song,Liping Xia,Lili Ji,Lu Cai,Jinlong Chen

doi:10.3390/catal10101130

Abstract

In this work, a SiO2-doped natural photocatalyst derived from waste mussel shell (HAS) was prepared by acidification. The as-prepared sample was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES), field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), UV-visible diffuse-reflectance spectrum (UV-vis DRS), and Differential scanning and thermogravimetric analyses (DTA/TGA). The results exhibited that HAS was mesopores nanomaterial consisting of uneven arranged rod-like structure, the dominant component of HAS was SiO2 with a large number of hydroxyl groups, and a variety of transition metals uniformly distributed in HAS. Rhodamine B (RhB) and methylene blue (MB) removal efficiencies (equal to 92.59% and 99.14%, respectively) were observed under the HAS presence when exposed to the visible light. The degradation products were analyzed using liquid Chromatograph Mass Spectrometer (LC-MS) and Total Organic Carbon (TOC), among which, MB was degraded by demethylation and deamination, and RhB was degraded by N-deethylation and conjugate structure destruction. After four successive recycles, the removal efficiency of RhB and MB are still reach 86.103% and 75.844%. This study indicated that the mussel shells might be suggested as a novel natural photocatalyst in the application of dye wastewater treatment.

Highlights

Photocatalysis-based technologies are considered eco-friendly and economically feasible and are widely studied for their applications in environment decontamination, water splitting, clean energy production, CO2 conversion, etc. [1,2,3,4,5]
N2 adsorption isotherms of HAS and Original shell (OS) belonged to type V [36] with a hysteresis loop at P/P0 > 0.5, which is indicative of the mesopore presence [37]
A novel SiO2 -doped natural photocatalyst derived from waste mussel shells (HAS) was obtained using a simple acidification synthesis technique

Summary

Introduction

Photocatalysis-based technologies are considered eco-friendly and economically feasible and are widely studied for their applications in environment decontamination, water splitting, clean energy production, CO2 conversion, etc. [1,2,3,4,5]. Mono-component semiconductor photocatalyst has been constrained in the practical application, owing to its insufficient sunlight utilization, inefficient photogenerated charge separation, and low quantum yield [8,9]. A composite photocatalyst, consisting of semiconductor and other components, has attracted extensive attention, which could improve the utilization efficiency of solar energy and significantly enhance photocatalytic performances [10,11,12]. Composite photocatalysts have achieved significant improvements compared to the mono-component photocatalysts, industrial applications of these photocatalysts are still challenging, especially in terms of their mass production, cost, and stability that need to be addressed. In recent years, researchers have been focusing on cheap and efficient photocatalysts, especially those from natural biomaterials with multiple scales and hierarchical morphologies, such as pollen [21], rice straw [22], kelp [23], seashells [24], etc

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