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Enhanced photocatalytic performance of nanocrystalline TiO 2 membrane by both slow photons and stop‐band reflection of photonic crystals
Author(s) -
Chen ShengLi,
Wang AiJun,
Hu ChunTian,
Dai Chao,
Benziger Jay B.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
aiche journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.958
H-Index - 167
eISSN - 1547-5905
pISSN - 0001-1541
DOI - 10.1002/aic.12712
Subject(s) - nanocrystalline material , photocatalysis , photon , reflection (computer programming) , photonic crystal , materials science , optoelectronics , photonics , membrane , optics , nanotechnology , chemistry , physics , biochemistry , computer science , programming language , catalysis
An nc‐TiO 2 /SnO 2 inverse opal composite membrane was fabricated, the photo‐activity of which was significantly enhanced by utilizing both slow photons and stop‐band reflection of the photonic crystal layer. The materials of the photonic crystal layer must be transparent in the area of adsorption edge of the nc‐TiO 2 , so that SnO 2 , having much greater electronic band gap than TiO 2 , was used for the materials of the photonic crystal layer. The photonic band‐gap of the SnO 2 photonic crystal was designed at the semiconductor band gap of TiO 2 to harvest slow photons in the interface between the SnO 2 layer and the TiO 2 layer. The two layer structure makes it possible to couple the stop‐band reflectivity of the photonic layer to the photocatalyst. Composite membranes can improve solar energy harvesting and substantially improve photocatalysts for photolysis and photochemical degradation of environmental pollutants. © 2011 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2012