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Author (up) Zalfani, M.; Hu, Z.-Y.; Yu, W.-B.; Mahdouani, M.; Bourguiga, R.; Wu, M.; Li, Y.; Van Tendeloo, G.; Djoued, Y.; Su, B.-L.
Title BiVo4/3DOM TiO2 nanocomposites : effect of BiVO4 as highly efficient visible light sensitizer for highly improved visible light photocatalytic activity in the degradation of dye pollutants Type A1 Journal article
Year 2017 Publication Applied catalysis : B : environmental Abbreviated Journal Appl Catal B-Environ
Volume 205 Issue 205 Pages 121-132
Keywords A1 Journal article; Electron microscopy for materials research (EMAT)
Abstract A series of BiVO4/3DOM TiO2 nanocomposites have been synthesized and their photocatalytic activity was investigated under visible light irradiation using the RhB dye as model pollutant molecule in an aqueous solution. The effect of the amount of BiVO4 as visible light sensitizer on the photocatalytic activity of BiVO4/3DOM TiO2 nanocomposites was highlighted. The heterostructured composite system leads to much higher photocatalytic efficiencies than bare 3DOM TiO2 and BiVO4 nanoparticles. As the proportion of BiVO4 in BiVO4/3DOM TiO2 nanocomposites increases from 0.04 to 0.6, the photocatalytic performance of the BiVO4/3DOM TiO2 nanocomposites increases and then decreases after reaching a maximum at 0.2. This improvement in photocatalytic perfomance is related to 1) the interfacial electron transfer efficiency between the coupled materials, 2) the 3DOM TiO2 inverse opal structure with interconnected pores providing an easy mass transfer of the reactant molecules and high accessibility to the active sites and large surface area and 3) the effect of light sensitizer of BiVO4. Intensive studies on structural, textural, optical and surface properties reveal that the electronic interactions between BiVO4 and TiO2 lead to an improved charge separation of the coupled BiVO4/TiO2 system. The photogenerated charge carrier densities increase with increasing the BiVO4 content, which acts as visible light sensitizer to the TiO2 and is responsible for the enhancement in the rate of photocatalytic degradation. However, the photocatalytic activity is reduced when the BiVO4 amount is much higher than that of 3DOM TiO2. Two reasons could account for this behavior. First, with increasing BiVO4 content, the photogenerated electron/hole pairs are accumulated at the surface of the BiVO4 nanoparticles and the recombination rate increases as shown by the PL results. Second, decreasing the amount of 3DOM TiO2 in the nanocomposite decreases the surface area as shown by the BET results. Moreover, the poor adsorptive properties of the BiVO4 photocatalyst also affect the photocatalytic performance, in particular at higher BiVO4 content. The present work demonstrates that BiVO4/3DOM TiO2 is a very promising heterojunction system for visible light photocatalytic applications.
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Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Amsterdam Editor
Language Wos 000393931000013 Publication Date 2016-12-08
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 0926-3373 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles
Impact Factor 9.446 Times cited 52 Open Access OpenAccess
Notes ; This work was realized with the financial support of Chinese Ministry of Education in a framework of the Changjiang Scholar Innovative Research Team Program (IRT_15R52). B. L. Su acknowledges the Chinese Central Government for an “Expert of the State” position in the Program of the “Thousand Talents” and a Clare Hall Life Member, University of Cambridge. Y. Li acknowledges Hubei Provincial Department of Education for the “Chutian Scholar” program. This work is also supported by PhD Programs Foundation (20120143120019) of Chinese Ministry of Education, the Wuhan Youth Chenguang Program of Science and Technology (2013070104010003), Hubei Provincial Natural Science Foundation (2014CFB160, 2015CFB516), the National Science Foundation for Young Scholars of China (No. 51502225) and Self-determined and Innovative Research Funds of the SKLWUT (2015-ZD-7). MZ thanks the scholarship support from the Laboratory of Inorganic Materials Chemistry ay the University of Namur. Z. Y. Hu and G. Van Tendeloo acknowledge support from the EC Framework 7 program ESTEEM2 (Reference 312483). This research used resources of the Electron Microscopy Service located at the University of Namur. This Service is member of the “Plateforme Technologique Morphologie – Imagerie”. The XPS analyses were made in the LISE, Department of Physics of University of Namur thanks to Dr. P. Louette. XRD measurements, UV-vis and photoluminescent spectroscopic analyses and N<INF>2</ INF> adsorption-desorption measurements were made with the facility of the “Plateforme Technologique Physico-Chimique”. ; Approved Most recent IF: 9.446
Call Number UA @ lucian @ c:irua:138601 Serial 4405
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Author (up) Zalfani, M.; van der Schueren, B.; Hu, Z.-Y.; Rooke, J.C.; Bourguiga, R.; Wu, M.; Li, Y.; Van Tendeloo, G.; Su, B.-L.
Title Novel 3DOM BiVO4/TiO2nanocomposites for highly enhanced photocatalytic activity Type A1 Journal article
Year 2015 Publication Journal of materials chemistry A : materials for energy and sustainability Abbreviated Journal J Mater Chem A
Volume 3 Issue 3 Pages 21244-21256
Keywords A1 Journal article; Engineering sciences. Technology; Electron microscopy for materials research (EMAT)
Abstract Novel 3DOM BiVO4/TiO2 nanocomposites with intimate contact were for the first time synthesized by a hydrothermal method in order to elucidate their visible-light-driven photocatalytic performances. BiVO4 nanoparticles and 3DOM TiO2 inverse opal were fabricated respectively. These materials were characterized by XRD, XPS, SEM, TEM, N2 adsorption–desorption and UV-vis diffuse (UV-vis) and photoluminescence spectroscopies. As references for comparison, a physical mixture of BiVO4 nanoparticles and 3DOM TiO2 inverse opal powder (0.08 : 1), and a BiVO4/P25 TiO2 (0.08 : 1) nanocomposite made also by the hydrothermal method were prepared. The photocatalytic performance of all the prepared materials was evaluated by the degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) as a model pollutant molecule under visible light irradiation. The highly ordered 3D macroporous inverse opal structure can provide more active surface areas and increased mass transfer because of its highly accessible 3D porosity. The results show that 3DOM BiVO4/TiO2 nanocomposites possess a highly prolonged lifetime and increased separation of visible light generated charges and extraordinarily high photocatalytic activity. Owing to the intimate contact between BiVO4 and large surface area 3DOM TiO2, the photogenerated high energy charges can be easily transferred from BiVO4 to the 3DOM TiO2 support. BiVO4 nanoparticles in the 3DOM TiO2 inverse opal structure act thus as a sensitizer to absorb visible light and to transfer efficiently high energy electrons to TiO2 to ensure long lifetime of the photogenerated charges and keep them well separated, owing to the direct band gap of BiVO4 of 2.4 eV, favourably positioned band edges, very low recombination rate of electron–hole pairs and stability when coupled with photocatalysts, explaining the extraordinarily high photocatalytic performance of 3DOM BiVO4/TiO2 nanocomposites. It is found that larger the amount of BiVO4 in the nanocomposite, longer the duration of photogenerated charge separation and higher the photocatalytic activity. This work can shed light on the development of novel visible light responsive nanomaterials for efficient solar energy utilisation by the intimate combination of an inorganic light sensitizing nanoparticle with an inverse opal structure with high diffusion efficiency and high accessible surface area.
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Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Wos 000363163200049 Publication Date 2015-09-08
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 2050-7488;2050-7496; ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles
Impact Factor 8.867 Times cited 88 Open Access
Notes This work was realized with the financial support of the Belgian FNRS (Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique). This research used resources of the Electron Microscopy Service located at the University of Namur. This Service is a member of the “Plateforme Technologique Morphologie – Imagerie”. The XPS analyses were made in the LISE, Department of Physics of the University of Namur thanks to Dr P. Louette. This work was also supported by Changjiang Scholars and the Innovative Research Team (IRT1169) of the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China. B. L. Su acknowledges the Chinese Central Government for an “Expert of the State” position in the Program of the “Thousand Talents” and a Clare Hall Life Membership at the Clare Hall and the financial support of the Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge. G. Van Tendeloo and Z. Y. Hu acknowledge support from the EC Framework 7 program ESTEEM2 (Reference 312483).; esteem2_jra4 Approved Most recent IF: 8.867; 2015 IF: 7.443
Call Number c:irua:129476 c:irua:129476 Serial 3951
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Author (up) Zhao, H.; Hu, Z.; Liu, J.; Li, Y.; Wu, M.; Van Tendeloo, G.; Su, B.-L.
Title Blue-edge slow photons promoting visible-light hydrogen production on gradient ternary 3DOM TiO 2 -Au-CdS photonic crystals Type A1 Journal article
Year 2018 Publication Nano energy Abbreviated Journal Nano Energy
Volume 47 Issue Pages 266-274
Keywords A1 Journal article; Engineering sciences. Technology; Electron microscopy for materials research (EMAT)
Abstract The slow photon effect, a structural effect of photonic crystal photocatalyst, is very efficient in the enhancement of photocatalytic reactions. However, slow photons in powdered photonic crystal photocatalyst have rarely been discussed because they are usually randomly oriented when the photocatalytic reaction happens in solution under constant stirring. In this work, for the first time we design a gradient ternary TiO2-Au-CdS photonic crystal based on three-dimensionally ordered macroporous (3DOM) TiO2 as skeleton, Au as electron transfer medium and CdS as active material for photocatalytic H2 production under visible-light. As a result, this gradient ternary photocatalyst is favorable to simultaneously enhance light absorption, extend the light responsive region and reduce the recombination rate of the charge carriers. In particular, we found that slow photons at blue-edge exhibit much higher photocatalytic activity than that at red-edge. The photonic crystal photocatalyst with a macropore size of 250 nm exhibits the highest visible-light H2 production rate of 3.50 mmolh⁻¹g⁻¹ due to the slow photon energy at the blue-edge to significantly enhance the incident photons utilization. This work verifies that slow photons at the blue-edge can largely enhance light harvesting and sheds a light on designing the powdered photonic crystal photocatalyst to promote the photocatalytic H2 production via slow photon effect.
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Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Wos 000430057000027 Publication Date 2018-02-27
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 2211-2855 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles
Impact Factor 12.343 Times cited 33 Open Access OpenAccess
Notes B. L. Su acknowledges the Chinese Central Government for an “Expert of the State” position in the Program of the “Thousand Talents”. Y. Li acknowledges Hubei Provincial Department of Education for the “Chutian Scholar” program. This work is financially supported the National KeyR&D Program of China (2016YFA0202602), National Natural Science Foundation of China (U1663225, 51502225), Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University (IRT_15R52), Hubei Provincial Natural Science Foundation (2015CFB516), International Science &Technology Cooperation Program of China (2015DFE52870) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (WUT: 2016III029). Approved Most recent IF: 12.343
Call Number EMAT @ lucian @c:irua:150721 Serial 4924
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Author (up) Zhao, H.; Li, C.-F.; Hu, Z.-Y.; Liu, J.; Li, Y.; Hu, J.; Van Tendeloo, G.; Chen, L.-H.; Su, B.-L.
Title Size effect of bifunctional gold in hierarchical titanium oxide-gold-cadmium sulfide with slow photon effect for unprecedented visible-light hydrogen production Type A1 Journal article
Year 2021 Publication Journal Of Colloid And Interface Science Abbreviated Journal J Colloid Interf Sci
Volume 604 Issue Pages 131-139
Keywords A1 Journal article; Electron microscopy for materials research (EMAT)
Abstract Gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) with surface plasmonic resonance (SPR) effect and excellent internal electron transfer ability have widely been combined with semiconductors for photocatalysis. However, the in-depth effects of Au NPs in multicomponent photocatalysts have not been completely understood. Herein, ternary titanium oxide-gold-cadmium sulfide (TiO2-Au-CdS, TAC) photocatalysts, based on hierarchical TiO2 inverse opal photonic crystal structure with different Au NPs sizes have been designed to reveal the SPR effect and internal electron transfer of Au NPs in the presence of slow photon effect. It appears that the SPR effect and internal electron transfer ability of Au NPs, depending on their sizes, play a synergistic effect on the photocatalytic enhancement. The ternary TAC-10 photocatalyst with – 10 nm Au NPs demonstrates an unprecedented hydrogen evolution rate of 47.6 mmolh-1g 1 under visible-light, demonstrating- 48% enhancement comparing to the sample without slow photon effect. In particular, a 9.83% apparent quantum yield under 450 nm monochromatic light is achieved for TAC-10. A model is proposed and finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations reveal the size influence of Au NPs in ternary TAC photocatalysts. This work suggests that the rational design of bifunctional Au NPs coupling with slow photon effect could largely promote hydrogen production from visible-light driven water splitting. (c) 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Address
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Wos 000704428600004 Publication Date 2021-07-01
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 0021-9797 ISBN Additional Links UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles
Impact Factor 4.233 Times cited Open Access Not_Open_Access
Notes Approved Most recent IF: 4.233
Call Number UA @ admin @ c:irua:182531 Serial 6886
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