Influence of Metal Oxide Particles on Bandgap of 1D Photocatalysts Based on SrTiO3/PAN Fibers.

Fail Sultanov,Kenzhebatyr Bekmyrza,Kairat Kuterbekov,Seitkhan Azat,Zulkhair Mansurov,Baglan Bakbolat,Magdalena Bigaj,Chingis Daulbayev

doi:10.3390/nano10091734

Abstract

This paper deals with the study of the optical properties of one-dimensional SrTiO3/PAN-based photocatalysts with the addition of metal oxide particles and the determination of their bandgaps. One-dimensional photocatalysts were obtained by the electrospinning method. Particles of metals such as iron, chromium, and copper were used as additives that are capable of improving the fibers’ photocatalytic properties based on SrTiO3/PAN. The optimal ratios of the solutions for the electrospinning of fibers based on SrTiO3/PAN with the addition of metal oxide particles were determined. The transmission and reflection of composite photocatalysts with metal oxide particles were measured in a wide range of spectra, from the ultraviolet region (185 nm) to near-infrared radiation (3600 nm), to determine the values of their bandgaps. Thus, the introduction of metal oxide particles resulted in a decrease in the bandgaps of the obtained composite photocatalysts compared to the initial SrTiO3/PAN (3.57 eV), with the following values: −3.11 eV for SrTiO3/PAN/Fe2O3, −2.84 eV for SrTiO3/PAN/CuO, and −2.89 eV for SrTiO3/PAN/Cr2O3. The obtained composite photocatalysts were tested for the production of hydrogen by the splitting of water–methanol mixtures under UV irradiation, and the following rates of hydrogen evolution were determined: 344.67 µmol h−1 g−1 for SrTiO3/PAN/Fe2O3, 398.93 µmol h−1 g−1 for SrTiO3/PAN/Cr2O3, and 420.82 µmol h−1 g−1 for SrTiO3/PAN/CuO.

Highlights

Photocatalysis is a well-researched method for renewable energy production in the forms of solar energy and high-purity chemical fuel (H2, CH4/CH2OH) [1,2]
To achieve a highly efficient photocatalyst based on SrTiO3 fibers, it is necessary to create its composites with metal oxide particles
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Summary

Introduction

Photocatalysis is a well-researched method for renewable energy production in the forms of solar energy and high-purity chemical fuel (H2, CH4/CH2OH) [1,2]. Strontium titanate (SrTiO3) is a wide-gap semiconductor that belongs to the perovskite family of ternary oxides with an ABO3 structure [5]. At room temperature, it exhibits a cubic structure with a lattice parameter a = 3.9053 Å [6]. Transition metal ions like Fe, Mn, Cu, Ni, and Cr have been shown to modify the bandgap position of semiconductor materials [10,11,12,13,14,15] without enhancing the formation of water, which is the case when noble metals (e.g., Rh, Pt) are employed [3,9]. The switch towards the visible light region was achieved by doping titanate-based materials with Fe [9,16,17], Cr [5,18,19,20], and Cu [21,22]

Methods

Results

Conclusion