Ag-decorated TiO2 nanofibers as Arrhenius equation-incompatible and effective photocatalyst for water splitting under visible light irradiation
[Display omitted] •Ag-doped nanofibers was prepared by calcination of electrospun mats composed of titanium isopropoxide, silver nitrate and poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) in air atmosphere at 700 °C.•Compared to nanoparticles of the same composition, the nanofibrous morphology enhanced the photocatalytic...
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Veröffentlicht in: | Colloids and surfaces. A, Physicochemical and engineering aspects Physicochemical and engineering aspects, 2020-11, Vol.604, p.125307, Article 125307 |
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•Ag-doped nanofibers was prepared by calcination of electrospun mats composed of titanium isopropoxide, silver nitrate and poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) in air atmosphere at 700 °C.•Compared to nanoparticles of the same composition, the nanofibrous morphology enhanced the photocatalytic activity.•The localized surface plasmon characteristic of the silver nanoparticles modifies the catalytic activity of the Ag-doped nanofibers for water splitting reaction under the visible light irradiation.•The study opens a new avenue for enhancing the photcatalytic activity of the TiO2 nanostructures under visible light irradiation.
The decoration of titanium oxide nanostructures with noble metal forming nanoparticles and a nanofibrous morphology can result in overcoming the electron-hole fast recombination problem and enhancing the activity of this important photocatalyst under the visible light irradiation spectra.
In this study, Ag-decorated TiO2, with different Ag contents, was synthesized in nanoparticulate and nanofibrous forms. Synthesis of Ag-decorated nanofibers was performed by calcination of titanium isopropoxide/silver nitrate/polyvinylpyrrolidone electrospun nanofiber mats at 700 °C.
To prepare the nanoparticles, the initial electrospun sol–gel was dried, crushed and finely ground before the calcination process. As a photocatalyst for the water photosplitting process under visible light irradiation, the rate of hydrogen production was strongly affected by nanomorphology, Ag content, and reaction temperature. Typically, due to electron confinement in the 0D nanostructure, the nanofibrous morphology markedly enhanced the hydrogen evolution rate, by almost 8-fold compared with the nanoparticles. The hydrogen production rates for the samples containing 1 wt% Ag were 5.5 and 120 mmol H2/gcat for the nanoparticles and nanofibers, respectively.
For both formulations, increasing the silver content led to enhancement of the hydrogen production rate; however, the influence was clearer in the case of the nanoparticles. Investigation of the photocatalysis mechanism indicated that the localized surface plasmon of the silver nanoparticles was the main parameter resulting in the observed high photocatalytic activity under visible light irradiation.
Compared to the huge effort done by researchers in this field, this study draws attention to the strong influence of nanofibrous morphology in enhancing photocatalytic activity compared to nanoparticulates and the ne |
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ISSN: | 0927-7757 1873-4359 |
DOI: | 10.1016/j.colsurfa.2020.125307 |