Abstract
The negative replica of biomorphic TiO2 with nano-holes structure has been effectively fabricated directly from nano-nipple arrays structure of cicada wings by using a simple, low-cost and highly effective sol-gel ultrasonic method. The nano-holes array structure was well maintained after calcination in air at 500 °C. The Ag nanoparticles (10 nm–25 nm) were homogeneously decorated on the surface and to the side wall of nano-holes structure. It was observed that the biomorphic Ag-TiO2 showed remarkable photocatalytic activity by degradation of methyl blue (MB) under UV-vis light irradiation. The biomorphic Ag-TiO2 with nano-holes structure showed superior photocatalytic activity compared to the biomorphic TiO2 and commercial Degussa P25. This high-performance photocatalytic activity of the biomorphic Ag-TiO2 may be attributed to the nano-holes structure, localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) property of the Ag nanoparticles, and enhanced electron-hole separation. Moreover, the biomorphic Ag-TiO2 showed more absorption capability in the visible wavelength range. This work provides a new insight to design such a structure which may lead to a range of novel applications.
Highlights
Photolysis of organic containments has paid a great attention in environmental cleaning and water purification[1,2,3,4,5]
On large scale existing of these two dimensional nano-nipple arrays structure of cicada wing was found to be a most useful natural biotemplate during the replication process
Guoyong et al prepared the negative replica of Au directly from cicada template and used it as a mold to fabricate the positive replica of PMMA30
Summary
Black cicada was selected as the biological prototype due to its nano-nipple arrays structure on the surface of wing. The average structural parameters of the negative nano-holes arrays were found to be 220 nm in depth, 120 nm in diameter and 275 nm in central distance These values indicate that a little distortion has been occurred after direct replication of nanostructures of cicada wing at high calcination. These parameters show that the negative replica of original cicada wing was inherited to a great extent after high calcination. The deposition of Ag nanoparticles onto the surface as well as to the side wall of the nano-holes structure prominently increases the visible light absorption compared to both biomorphic TiO2 and P25. The deposition of Ag nanoparticles on the surface of biomorphic TiO2 offer more active sites for the photocatalytic process
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