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An In Situ Polymerization‐Encapsulation Approach to Prepare TiO 2 –Graphite Carbon–Au Photocatalysts for Efficient Photocatalysis
Author(s) -
Zhang Jianming,
Jin Xin,
Yu Xin,
Sang Yuanhua,
Razzari Luca,
Liu Hong,
Claverie Jerome
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
particle and particle systems characterization
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.877
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1521-4117
pISSN - 0934-0866
DOI - 10.1002/ppsc.201700297
Subject(s) - photocatalysis , photodegradation , materials science , visible spectrum , graphite , catalysis , chemical engineering , nanoparticle , polymerization , carbon fibers , irradiation , nanotechnology , photochemistry , chemistry , organic chemistry , polymer , optoelectronics , composite material , composite number , physics , nuclear physics , engineering
A complex nanoarchitecture composed of TiO 2 nanobelts, graphite‐like carbon, and Au nanoparticles (NPs) is developed using an in situ surface polymeric encapsulation technique. The precise arrangement of the carbon layer and Au NPs on a TiO 2 surface can be programmed to form three different core@shell structures by simply varying the addition sequence of materials during the encapsulation process. The photocatalytic activity of the three nanoarchitectures is assessed in H 2 generation, degradation of dye molecules as well as photoelectrochemical cells under solar and visible light irradiation. In the reaction of H 2 generation, no activity can be detected for all samples under visible‐light, while under solar light the sample with Au on the surface of carbon layers wrapped on TiO 2 shows the highest activity. By stark contrast, in the photodegradation test, significant difference in activity under visible light is observed, where the sample with Au NPs sandwiched between carbon layers demonstrates the highest activity. All the results indicate that the synergistic effect of carbon‐layers and Au NPs is essential for the catalytic activity enhancement. Moreover, the activity of the photocatalysts is not only highly dependent on the architecture of the catalyst, but also on the type of reaction investigated.