Abstract
Carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) codoped anatase TiO2/amorphous halloysite nanotubes (C+N-TiO2/HNTs) were fabricated using melamine as C and N source. The samples prepared by different weight ratios of melamine and TiO2were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectrometer. It is shown that the doping amounts of C and N could influence the photocatalytic performance of as-prepared composites. When the weight ratio of melamine/TiO2is 4.5, the C+N-TiO2/HNTs exhibited the best photocatalytic degradation efficiency of methyl blue (MB) under solar light irradiation. The obtained C+N-TiO2/HNTs were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), N2adsorption-desorption isotherm (BET), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and Fourier transform infrared spectrum (FT-IR). The results showed that the aggregation was effectively reduced, and TiO2nanoparticles could be uniformly deposited on the surface of HNTs. This leads to an increase of their specific surface area. XPS and FT-IR analyses indicated TiO2particles were doped successfully with C and N via the linkage of the Ti–O–N, O–Ti–N, and Ti–O–C. Photocatalytic experiments showed that C+N-TiO2/HNTs had higher degradation efficiency of MB than TiO2/HNTs. This makes the composite a potential candidate for the photocatalytic wastewater treatment.
Highlights
Industrial dyes are one of the main sources of water contamination, which are enormously harmful to ecological environment and human beings [1, 2]
The tube-like morphology of halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) can be still maintained from the following transmission electron microscopy (TEM) in Besides, it can be seen that calcined TiO2/HNTs and
It is found that the photoactivity of C+N-TiO2/HNTs can be clearly improved when the mass ratio of melamine and TiO2 is 4.5
Summary
Industrial dyes are one of the main sources of water contamination, which are enormously harmful to ecological environment and human beings [1, 2]. Numerous representative methods, including Fenton oxidation, biological treatment, photocatalytic degradation, membrane filtration, and adsorption [3,4,5,6,7], have been employed to remove the organic dyes from polluted wastewater. As a sort of available aluminosilicate clay, halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) have been intensively investigated in the treatment of dye wastewater [16,17,18] due to their well-defined hollow tubular structure with ca. nm diameter lumen and 600–. The clay nanotubes possess the advantages of large surface area, high porosity, and tunable surface chemistry, which enable this nanomaterial to be utilized as an attractive support for the assembly of small metal and metal oxide. The combination of TiO2 and HNTs is promising to simultaneously possess excellent photocatalytic activity and absorptivity, which could deliver exceptional performances in photocatalytic degradation of organics.
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