Abstract
Supported MnO2-based nanomaterials were fabricated on fluorine-doped tin oxide substrates using plasma enhanced-chemical vapor deposition (PE-CVD) between 100 °C and 400 °C, starting from a fluorinated Mn(ii) diamine diketonate precursor. Growth experiments yielded β-MnO2 with a hierarchical morphology tuneable from dendritic structures to quasi-1D nanosystems as a function of growth temperature, whose variation also enabled a concomitant tailoring of the system fluorine content, and of the optical absorption and band gap. Preliminary photocatalytic tests were aimed at the investigation of photoinduced hydrophilic (PH) and solid phase photocatalytic (PC) performances of the present nanomaterials, as well as at the photodegradation of Plasmocorinth B azo-dye aqueous solutions. The obtained findings highlighted an attractive system photoactivity even under visible light, finely tailored by fluorine content, morphological organization and optical properties of the prepared nanostructures. The results indicate that the synthesized MnO2 nanosystems have potential applications as advanced smart materials for anti-fogging/self-cleaning end uses and water purification.
Highlights
Among the possible candidate materials, MnO2 is an important transition metal oxide possessing various polymorphs, such as α, β, γ- and δ-MnO2,9–18 and has been the subject of several studies
The results indicate that the synthesized MnO2 nanosystems have potential applications as advanced smart materials for anti-fogging/self-cleaning end uses and water purification
The recorded patterns showed a limited number of broad and relatively weak diffraction peaks, as already observed for manganese oxide systems,[32] suggesting that the obtained specimens were formed by small-sized crystalline domains with highly defective structures,[13,16] as confirmed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) data
Summary
Among the possible candidate materials, MnO2 is an important transition metal oxide possessing various polymorphs, such as α-, β-, γ- and δ-MnO2,9–18 and has been the subject of several studies. The functional behaviour of the developed systems is investigated in relation to: (a) their photoinduced hydrophilicity (PH) and solid phase photocatalytic (PC) activity in methyl stearate degradation,[7] in view of anti-fogging and self-cleaning applications; and (b) the photodegradation of aqueous solutions of the monoazo-dye Plasmocorinth B The latter was chosen as a model compound thanks to its environmental stability and the absence of coloured degradation by-products, enabling us to follow its decomposition by means of ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy.[36] The most attractive results in view of possible future implementations are presented and critically discussed as a function of material properties
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