Lo Porto Chiara, Dell'Edera Massimo, De Pasquale Ilaria, Milella Antonella, Fracassi Francesco, Curri Maria Lucia, Comparelli Roberto, Palumbo Fabio
CNR-IPCF, Istituto per i Processi Chimico-Fisici, S.S. Bari, c/o Dip. Chimica Via Orabona 4, 70126 Bari, Italy.
Dipartimento di Chimica, Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Via Orabona 4, 70126 Bari, Italy.
Nanomaterials (Basel). 2022 Oct 26;12(21):3758. doi: 10.3390/nano12213758.
We report on the aerosol-assisted atmospheric-pressure plasma deposition onto a stainless-steel woven mesh of a thin nanocomposite coating based on TiO2 nanoparticles hosted in a hybrid organic−inorganic matrix, starting from nanoparticles dispersed in a mixture of hexamethyldisiloxane and isopropyl alcohol. The stainless-steel mesh was selected as an effective support for the possible future technological application of the coating for photocatalytically assisted water depollution. The prepared coatings were thoroughly investigated from the chemical and morphological points of view and were demonstrated to be photocatalytically active in the degradation of an organic molecule, used as a pollutant model, in water upon UV light irradiation. In order to optimize the photocatalytic performance, different approaches were investigated for the coating’s realization, namely (i) the control of the deposition time and (ii) the application of a postdeposition O2 plasma treatment on the pristine coatings. Both strategies were found to be able to increase the photocatalytic activity, and, remarkably, their combination resulted in a further enhancement of the photoactivity. Indeed, the proposed combined approach allowed a three-fold increase in the kinetic constant of the degradation reaction of the model dye methylene blue with respect to the pristine coating. Interestingly, the chemical and morphological characterizations of all the prepared coatings were able to account for the enhancement of the photocatalytic performance. Indeed, the presence of the TiO2 nanoparticles on the outmost surface of the film confirmed the accessibility of the photocatalytic sites in the nanocomposite and reasonably explained the enhanced photocatalytic performance. In addition, the sustained photoactivity (>5 cycles of use) of the nanocomposites was demonstrated.
我们报道了基于负载在有机 - 无机杂化基质中的TiO₂纳米颗粒的薄纳米复合涂层在不锈钢编织网上的气溶胶辅助大气压等离子体沉积，起始原料是分散在六甲基二硅氧烷和异丙醇混合物中的纳米颗粒。选择不锈钢网作为涂层未来可能用于光催化辅助水污染处理技术应用的有效载体。从化学和形态学角度对制备的涂层进行了深入研究，并证明其在紫外光照射下对水中用作污染物模型的有机分子降解具有光催化活性。为了优化光催化性能，研究了实现涂层的不同方法，即（i）控制沉积时间和（ii）对原始涂层进行沉积后O₂等离子体处理。发现这两种策略都能够提高光催化活性，并且值得注意的是，它们的组合导致光活性进一步增强。实际上，所提出的组合方法使模型染料亚甲基蓝降解反应的动力学常数相对于原始涂层提高了三倍。有趣的是，所有制备涂层的化学和形态表征能够解释光催化性能的增强。确实，薄膜最外表面存在TiO₂纳米颗粒证实了纳米复合材料中光催化位点的可及性，并合理地解释了增强的光催化性能。此外，还证明了纳米复合材料具有持续的光活性（>5次使用循环）。
