可见光响应的碳修饰纳米棒状p型CaFe2O4半导体光催化降解有机污染物

制备了C/CaFe2O4纳米棒复合材料,并考察了其光催化性能,同时深入研究了C修饰对CaFe2O4活性的影响.研究发现,复合材料的光催化降解活性与C和CaFe2O4的质量比密切相关.其最佳的碳含量为58 wt%,所得复合光催化剂对亚甲基蓝(MB)的降解速率常数达到0.0058 min-1,是铁酸钙的4.8倍.进一步研究表明,C修饰在CaFe2O4表面显著提高了样品对亚甲基蓝染料的吸附性能.吸附等温线结果发现,MB以单分子层形式吸附于CaFe2O4表面.总体而言,C覆盖在CaFe2O4表面可以使光生电子和空穴更有效的分离和传输,可以显著提高催化剂对MB的吸附性能,还可以增强样品对光的吸收能力,因而催化剂光催化降解MB性能增加.表征结果表明,复合光催化剂表面含有大量羧基和羟基基团,导致光催化剂表面带负电荷,从而有利于阳离子的MB的静电吸附.为了进一步验证该吸附机理,我们选择了另外两种染料分子,阳离子的罗丹明B和阴离子的甲基橙.结果显示,该光催化剂对罗丹明B同样具有较强的吸附能力和较好的光催化降解活性,但对甲基橙几乎没有吸附和光催化性能.这充分说明亚甲基蓝染料通过静电相互作用的形式吸附于催化剂表面,较好的吸附性能进一步促进了光催化剂的降解活性.为了讨论光催化机理,向反应体系中加入不同的捕获剂来研究光催化反应过程中产生的活性物种.研究显示,羟基自由基在光催化降解亚甲基蓝的反应中几乎没有作用,光生空穴发挥了次要作用,而超氧自由基在整个反应中发挥了主导作用.因此,光催化降解的机理如下:CaFe2O4在可见光激发下产生光生电子和空穴,电子快速转移到C材料的表面并与空气中的氧气反应生成超氧自由基,后者再与吸附在光催化剂表面的染料分子反应产生低毒或无毒的降解产物.此外,CaFe2O4价带上产生的空穴也可以直接将染料分子氧化成小分子产物.

Visible light-responsive carbon-decorated p-type semiconductor CaFe2O4 nanorod photocatalyst for efficient remediation of organic pollutants

We report the fabrication and photocatalytic property of a composite of C/CaFe2O4 nanorods (NRs) in an effort to reveal the influence of carbon modification. It is demonstrated that the photocatalytic degradation activity is dependent on the mass ratio of C to CaFe2O4. The optimal carbon content is determined to be 58 wt% to yield a methylene blue (MB) degradation rate of 0.0058 min-1, which is 4.8 times higher than that of the pristine CaFe2O4 NRs. The decoration of carbon on the surface of CaFe2O4 NRs improves its adsorption capacity of the MB dye, which is specifically adsorbed on the surface as a monolayer according to the adsorption isotherm analysis. The trapping experiments of the reactive species indicate that superoxide radicals (?O2-) are the main active species responsible for the removal of MB under visible-light irradiation. Overall, the unique feature of carbon coating enables the efficient separation and transfer of photogenerated electrons and holes, strengthens the adsorption capacity of MB, and improves the light harvesting capability, hence enhancing the over-all photocatalytic degradation of MB.