1. Surface plasmon resonance electron channeled through amorphous aluminum oxide bridged ZnO coupled g-C3N4 significantly promotes charge separation for pollutants degradation under visible light
- Author
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Zada Amir, Yasmeen Humaira, and Liu Shouxin
- Subjects
Nanocomposite ,Chemistry ,General Chemical Engineering ,General Physics and Astronomy ,Nanoparticle ,Environmental pollution ,02 engineering and technology ,General Chemistry ,010402 general chemistry ,021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology ,Photochemistry ,01 natural sciences ,0104 chemical sciences ,Amorphous solid ,Adsorption ,Surface plasmon resonance ,0210 nano-technology ,Photodegradation ,Visible spectrum - Abstract
The increasing environmental pollution has triggered severe threat to life in the recent years. As for this, a novel amorphous aluminum oxide bridged ZnO and g-C3N4 nanocomposites were fabricated and loaded with gold nanoparticles. The samples were characterized and applied for the photodegradation of different chlorophenols under visible light irradiation. The optimized nanophotocatalyst showed extended photoactivities and 39, 45 and 58 % of 2-chlorophenol, 2,4-dichlrophenol and 2,4,6-trichlorphenol were respectively removed in one hour under visible light irradiation. These upgraded activities are attributed to the extended optical absorption due to the presence of Au nanoparticles and much better charge separation by inducting surface plasmon resonance excited electrons through Al-O bridged channels to the conduction bands of g-C3N4 and ZnO. The large surface area of the amorphous Al-O helps to adsorb and degrade more pollutant particles. The different photoactivities of the chlorophenols are attributed to the different charge densities in the aromatic ring in the presence of different number of chloro-groups. The major oxidizing agents in the photodegradation of different chlorophenols were different suggesting the different behaviour of these compounds toward oxidation. We hope that this study would provide an easy approach to deal with environmental pollution in future.
- Published
- 2020