Abstract
Photocatalytic technology is a widely used water treatment method, whose efficiency can be increased by developing a suitable photocatalyst fabrication procedure. In this study, five different synthesis methods were utilised for the preparation of novel ZnO/sepiolite photolytic composites, namely, sol‐gel method, hydrothermal reduction, hydrolytic precipitation, powder sintering, and impregnation‐reduction. The obtained photocatalysts were characterised by scanning electron microscopy, infrared spectroscopy, and X‐ray diffraction. The differences between the applied photocatalyst preparation methods and the reasons for these differences were discussed, and the photocatalytic activities of the prepared composite materials were compared. The obtained results revealed that the physical structure, chemical properties, and photocatalytic performance of the composite produced by the sol‐gel method were superior to those of the materials fabricated by the other four methods. Moreover, this material also exhibited high photocatalytic stability, while its photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue dye proceeded via a quasi‐first‐order reaction. The prepared composites have broad application prospects in photocatalysis and can be potentially used for treating environmental pollutants.
Highlights
In 1977, Frank and Bard used TiO2 photocatalytic technology to treat CN− and SO32− plasmas, after which photocatalytic methods were successfully applied to control environmental pollution [1]
ZnO is a semiconductor with a forbidden band width of 3.37 eV and exciton binding energy of 60 MeV at room temperature, which is widely applied for the degradation of organic pollutants due to its excellent chemical stability, high photocatalytic activity, low fabrication cost, and other advantages [12,13,14,15,16]. e results of ZnO-related studies revealed that the photocatalytic activity of zinc oxide was sufficiently high to decompose various pollutants in the environment [17]
To identify the best ZnO/sepiolite preparation method, the sepiolite support was modified by a thermal acid treatment, after which ZnO/sepiolite composite materials were fabricated by the sol-gel, hydrothermal reduction, hydrolytic precipitation, powder sintering, and impregnation-reduction methods. e obtained composites were characterised by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), infrared spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction (XRD), and their photocatalytic properties were investigated
Summary
In 1977, Frank and Bard used TiO2 photocatalytic technology to treat CN− and SO32− plasmas, after which photocatalytic methods were successfully applied to control environmental pollution [1]. E results of ZnO-related studies revealed that the photocatalytic activity of zinc oxide was sufficiently high to decompose various pollutants in the environment [17]. It can photocatalyse the degradation of harmful compounds [18, 19] such as aniline [20] under low UV light irradiation. E photocatalytic properties of the Cu/ZnO catalysts prepared by hydrolysis method [31] and graphene-ZnO nanorod composites [32] were strongly influenced by the proportions of the raw materials; the catalysts fabricated by different methods possessed different particle shapes and specific surface areas. To identify the best ZnO/sepiolite preparation method, the sepiolite support was modified by a thermal acid treatment, after which ZnO/sepiolite composite materials were fabricated by the sol-gel, hydrothermal reduction, hydrolytic precipitation, powder sintering, and impregnation-reduction methods. e obtained composites were characterised by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), infrared spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction (XRD), and their photocatalytic properties were investigated
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