Light-transmitting AlON carrier with enhanced photocatalytic degradation performance

Abstract

A skeleton structure AlON (aluminum oxynitride) carrier with light transmission performance was prepared by carbothermal reduction and nitridation (CRN). The AlON carrier can disperse nano active components and enhance its photocatalytic performance. The microstructure of the TiO2/AlON composite photocatalyst shows that the dispersion of the agglomerated TiO2 is achieved by the physical adsorption mechanism, the embedding mechanism and the single particle dispersion mechanism. The morphology of the BiVO4/AlON and g-C3N4/AlON composite photocatalysts further proves the universality of the AlON carrier in the dispersion of nano photocatalyst. The photocatalytic performance of the nano active component was enhanced by combining with AlON carrier. After 240 min of visible light irradiation, the degradation rate of MB increased by 7.4% (BiVO4/AlON) and 8.1% (g-C3N4/AlON), respectively. High light transmittance was the main reason for AlON carrier to improve the photocatalytic performance of loaded active components. In addition, AlON carrier type composite photocatalyst can be reused for many times because it has physicochemical stability and can be recovered easily.