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Diatom-templated TiO2 with enhanced photocatalytic activity: biomimetics of photonic crystals

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Abstract

The siliceous frustules with sophisticated optical structure endow diatoms with superior solar light-harvesting abilities for effective photosynthesis. The preserved frustules of diatom (Cocconeis placentula) cells, as biophotonic crystals, were thus employed as both hard templates and silicon resources to synthesize TiO2 photocatalyst. Characterizations by a combination of physicochemical techniques proved that the bio-inspired sample is TiO2-coated SiO2 with biogenic C self-doped in. It was found that the synthesized composites exhibited similar morphologies to the original diatom templates. In comparison with commercial Degussa P25 TiO2, the C-doped TiO2/SiO2 catalyst exhibited more light absorption in the visible region and higher photocatalytic efficiency for photodegradation of rhodamine B under visible light due to the biomorphic hierarchical structures, TiO2 coating and C-doping.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project NSFC-YN U1033603, 21063016) and the Program for Innovative Research Teams (in Science and Technology) in the University of Yunnan Province (IRTSTYN) for financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Universities’ Center for Photocatalytic Treatment of Pollutants in Yunnan Province, Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemistry for Natural Resources, Ministry of Education, School of Chemical Sciences & Technology, Yunnan University, Kunming, 650091, P. R. China

    Jiao He, Daomei Chen, Yongli Li, Junlong Shao, Jiao Xie, Yuejuan Sun, Zhiying Yan & Jiaqiang Wang

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  1. Jiao He
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  2. Daomei Chen
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  3. Yongli Li
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Correspondence to Zhiying Yan or Jiaqiang Wang.

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He, J., Chen, D., Li, Y. et al. Diatom-templated TiO2 with enhanced photocatalytic activity: biomimetics of photonic crystals. Appl. Phys. A 113, 327–332 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-013-7970-2

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