Coupling Titania Nanotubes and Carbon Nanotubes To Create Photocatalytic Nanocomposites

Abstract

A titania nanotube/single-wall carbon nanotube composite was prepared by a simple hydration dehydration process. These composites were characterized using X-ray diffraction and spectroscopic techniques (UV−visible diffuse reflectance, Raman, photoluminescence, and EPR) as well as electron microscopy (SEM, TEM). SEM and TEM images indicated that single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) were interwoven with the titania nanotubes. Raman spectra further confirmed the chemical interaction between the titania nanotube and the SWCNT in the composites. The photoactivity of these composites was tested by the photooxidation of acetaldehyde. The composites showed enhanced photoactivity under both visible and UV light in comparison with conventional titania (P25) and controls. The composite having a mass ratio of 1:50 (SWCNT/TiNT) showed the maximum photocatalytic activity for acetaldehyde decay under visible light. XPS and EPR spectra indicated the creation of Ti−O−C bonds between the titania nanotube and the SWCNTs during the hydration dehydration process, which explains the visible light photoactivity.

One‐Pot Synthesis of Cu‐Nanocluster‐Decorated Brookite TiO2Quasi‐Nanocubes for Enhanced Activity and Selectivity of CO2 Photoreduction to CH4

“…The regionals pectrum (Figure 2b) of O1sp resentsamajor peak with binding energy of 529.8 eV for O 2À ions in the brookite lattice,a nd the binding energy peaks at 531.8 and 533.2 eV can be assignedt o-OH group (including Ti-OH and H 2 O) on brookite surfaces, which are consistent to the literature data. [13,20,43] Moreover,t he Ti 2p regional spectrum (Figure 2c)e xhibits two peaks with binding energies of 458.5 and 464.2 eV,c orresponding to Ti 2p 3/2 and2 p 1/2 ,r espectively.T hese binding energies are very closet ot he literature data, [13,20,44] indicating the valence state of Ti is + 4.…”

Transformation of polymer-ZnO core–shell nanofibers into ZnO hollow nanofibers: Intrinsic defect reorganization in ZnO and its influence on the photocatalysis

“…Ever increasing environmental pollution forces the researchers to fabricate efficient catalysts which can use sunlight to disintegrate or oxidize the organic substances [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]. It is known that delaying the recombination of photogenerated electron-hole pair increases the efficiency of the catalysts [10,12,[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23].…”

“…This not only minimizes the usage of catalyst but also enhances the active sites on the surface [10][11][12][13]18]. One should note that other significant attempts of enhancing the photocatalytic activity (PCA) or delaying the recombination are lattice defects [12,16,[18][19][20][21][22][23], heterojunctions [4,10,[14][15][16][17][24][25][26] etc. It is also notable that PCA is a very complex process and it is an integral effect of surface sites, bulk of the lattice etc.…”

Photocatalytic degradation of indigo carmine using Nd-doped TiO2-decorated graphene oxide nanocomposites

“…The presence of metal dopant caused band gap narrowing resulting in efficient visible light utilization. Moreover, it has been reported that metal doping improved the visible light absorption efficiency of TiO 2 by shifting its absorption spectra to lower energy level [47]. In addition, the GO may act as a photosensitizer where it absorbs photons from visible light onto the TiO 2 and influence its optical properties significantly resulting in an improvement its visible light activity [48].…”