Coaxial Multiphase Flame for Continuous‐Flow Assembly of Ternary Nanocomposite Photocatalysts

Abstract

For the low-cost production of graphene (G)-included composites, the growth of graphene on a transition metal in hydrocarbon flames is introduced, where the hydrocarbons are adsorbed on the metal surface, followed by catalytic decomposition, leading to continuous G formation. On the other hand, the flame synthesis of G is still a batch process, limiting the practical applications of such materials. Moreover, the hybridization of G for enhanced catalytic activities requires additional reaction and separation steps. Here, a coaxial multiphase flame is generated and combined with a rotating Cu-Ni foil and ultrasonic bath for the continuous-flow assembly of ternary G composites with low-cost and rapid implementation. The continuous flows to generate a multicomponent flame consist of MoS 2 particle-laden N 2 gas (inner), titanium isopropoxide vapor-laden CH 4 -air (middle), and ethanol liquid (outer), while Cu-Ni foil plies between the flame and ultrasonic bath for the assembly and dispersion of MoS 2 -TiO 2 @G composites. The configuration of the composite can be modulated by replacing the MoS 2 flow with a CdS flow to construct CdS-TiO 2 @G. From photocatalytic H 2 production and CO 2 reduction tests, the developed coaxial flame provides comparable performance with analogous architectures from the usual multistep methods despite the highthroughput production.