Usman Abubakar Katsina, Cursaru Diana-Luciana, Brănoiu Gheorghe, Şomoghi Raluca, Manta Ana-Maria, Matei Dănuţa, Mihai Sonia
Faculty of Petroleum Technology and Petrochemistry, Petroleum-Gas University of Ploiesti, 100680 Ploiești, Romania.
Department of Pure and Industrial Chemistry, Bayero University Kano, PMB 3011, Kano 70006, Nigeria.
Gels. 2022 Nov 10;8(11):728. doi: 10.3390/gels8110728.
A sol-gel synthesis technique was employed for the preparation of anatase phase {001}-TiO/Au hybrid nanocomposites (NCs). The scalable, schematic, and cost-efficient method was successfully modified using HF and NHOH capping agents. The photocatalytic activity of the as-synthesized {001}-TiO/Au NCs were tested over 2-cycle degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye and pharmaceutical active compounds (PhACs) of ibuprofen and naproxen under direct sunlight illumination at 35 °C and 44,000 lx. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), fast Fourier transform (FFT), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-Vis DRS) were employed for the characterization of the as-prepared sample. The characterization results from the TEM, XPS, and XRD studies established both the distribution of Au colloids on the surface of TiO material, and the presence of the highly crystalline structure of anatase {001}-TiO/Au NCs. Photodegradation results from the visible light irradiation of MB indicate an enhanced photocatalytic performance of Au/TiO NCs over TiO. The results from the photocatalytic activity test performed under direct sunlight exposure exhibited promising photodegradation efficiencies. In the first cycle, the sol-gel synthesized material exhibited relatively better efficiencies (91%) with the MB dye and ibuprofen, while the highest degradation efficiency for the second cycle was 79% for the MB dye. Pseudo first-order photodegradation rates from the first cycle were determined to be comparatively slower than those from the second degradation cycle.
采用溶胶-凝胶合成技术制备锐钛矿相{001}-TiO₂/Au杂化纳米复合材料（NCs）。使用HF和NHOH封端剂成功改进了这种可扩展、示意性且具有成本效益的方法。在35°C和44,000勒克斯的直射阳光下，对合成的{001}-TiO₂/Au NCs在亚甲基蓝（MB）染料以及布洛芬和萘普生的药物活性化合物（PhACs）的2次循环降解过程中的光催化活性进行了测试。采用透射电子显微镜（TEM）、高分辨率透射电子显微镜（HR-TEM）、快速傅里叶变换（FFT）、X射线衍射（XRD）、X射线光电子能谱（XPS）、能量色散X射线能谱（EDS）和紫外可见漫反射光谱（UV-Vis DRS）对制备的样品进行表征。TEM、XPS和XRD研究的表征结果确定了Au胶体在TiO₂材料表面的分布，以及锐钛矿{001}-TiO₂/Au NCs的高度结晶结构的存在。MB可见光照射的光降解结果表明，Au/TiO₂ NCs比TiO₂具有更高的光催化性能。在直射阳光下进行的光催化活性测试结果显示出有前景的光降解效率。在第一个循环中，溶胶-凝胶合成材料对MB染料和布洛芬表现出相对较高的效率（91%），而第二个循环中MB染料的最高降解效率为79%。第一个循环的准一级光降解速率被确定为比第二个降解循环的速率相对较慢。
