Effects of the Solvent Vapor Exposure on the Optical Properties and Photocatalytic Behavior of Cellulose Acetate/Perylene Free-Standing Films

Abstract

The search to deliver added value to industrialized biobased materials, such as cellulose derivatives, is a relevant aspect in the scientific, technological and innovation fields at present. To address these aspects, films of cellulose acetate (CA) and a perylene derivative (Pr) were fabricated using a solution-casting method with two different compositions. Consequently, these samples were exposed to dimethylformamide (DMF) solvent vapors so that its influence on the optical, wettability, and topographical properties of the films could be examined. The results demonstrated that solvent vapor could induce the apparent total or partial preferential orientation/migration of Pr toward the polymer–air interface. In addition, photocatalytic activities of the non-exposed and DMF vapor-exposed films against the degradation of methylene blue (MB) in an aqueous medium using light-emitting diode visible light irradiation were comparatively investigated. Apparently, the observed improvement in the performance of these materials in the MB photodegradation process is closely linked to the treatment with solvent vapor. Results from this study have allowed us to propose the fabrication and use of the improved photoactivity “all-organic” materials for potential applications in dye photodegradation in aqueous media.

Oxygen Vacancies Defective La2Ti2O7 Nanosheets Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity of Hydrogen Evolution under Visible Light Irradiation

“…Also, its ionic character at room temperature impairs carrier transport and diminishes the efficiency of charge carrier separation. To circumvent these issues, numerous attempts have been made to broaden the photo-absorption of La 2 Ti 2 O 7 , using methods like doping and amalgamation with another semiconductor [30][31][32][33][34][35]. Despite these efforts, the widespread application of La 2 Ti 2 O 7 remains significantly constrained due to the high recombination rate of photogenerated electron-hole pairs.…”