Abstract
In this paper, we present a novel physical (or nonsolvent) route to fabricate a kind of Au/ZnO/NiO heterostructure photocatalytic composite. That is, a Zn layer upon Ni foam substrate is prepared by pulse electrodeposition, then the ZnO nanoneedle/NiO heterostructural composite is obtained via thermal oxidation, and at last, the composite is modified with the dispersively deposited Au nanoparticles (Au NPs) by ion sputtering. The surface plasmon resonance effect of the Au NPs significantly enhances the light absorption. Meanwhile, the Au NPs form a Schottky barrier with ZnO nanoneedles and further inhibit the recombination of photogenerated electron–hole pairs. In addition, due to the nonsolvent conditions, the introduction of impurities is avoided, and thus it shows strong photocatalytic stability. The experimental results reveal that, the optimized Au/ZnO/NiO composite exhibits up to two times photocatalytic performance on RB degradation and higher stability than that of regular ZnO/NiO composite. The present experimental strategy can also be used for other noble metals, and it is expected to have important application prospects in the fields of environmental purification, solar cells, hydrogen generation, etc.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Fujishima A, Honda K (1972) Electrochemical photolysis of water at a semiconductor electrode. Nature 238:37–38
Hoffmann MR, Martin ST, Choi W, Bahnemann DW (1995) Environmental applications of semiconductor photocatalysis. Chem Rev 95:69–96
Yang LY, Dong SY, Sun JH, Feng JL, Wu QH, Sun SP (2010) Microwave-assisted preparation, characterization and photocatalytic properties of a dumbbell-shaped ZnO photocatalyst. J Hazard Mater 179:438–443
Akyol A, Yatmaz HC, Bayramoglu M (2004) Photocatalytic decolorization of Remazol Red RR in aqueous ZnO suspensions. Appl Catal B 54(1):19–24
Litter MI (1999) Heterogeneous photocatalysis: transition metal ions in photocatalytic systems. Appl Catal B 23:89–114
Zhang DF, Zeng FB (2012) Visible light-activated cadmium-doped ZnO nanostructured photocatalyst for the treatment of methylene blue dye. J Mater Sci 47(5):2155–2161. doi:10.1007/s10853-011-6016-4
Karakitsou KE, Verykios XE (1993) Effects of altervalent cation doping of titania on its performance as a photocatalyst for water cleavage. J Phys Chem 97(6):1184–1189
Asahi RT, Morikawa T, Ohwaki T, Aoki K, Taga Y (2001) Visible-light photocatalysis in nitrogen-doped titanium oxides. Science 293(5528):269–271
Li DL, Jiang XD, Zhang YP, Zhang B (2013) A novel route to ZnO/TiO2 heterojunction composite fibers. J Mater Res 28(03):507–512
Oregan B, Gratzel M (1991) A low-cost, high-efficiency solar cell based on dye-sensitized colloidal TiO2 films. Nature 353(6346):737–740
Lu J, Wang HH, Peng DL, Chen T, Dong SJ, Chang Y (2016) Synthesis and properties of Au/ZnO nanorods as a plasmonic photocatalyst. Phys E 78:41–48
Lu WW, Liu GS, Gao SY, Xing ST, Wang JJ (2008) Tyrosine-assisted preparation of Ag/ZnO nanocomposites with enhanced photocatalytic performance and synergistic antibacterial activities. Nanotechnology 19(44):82–85
Yu CL, Yang K, Xie Y, Fan QZ, Yu JC, Shu Q, Wang CY (2013) Novel hollow Pt-ZnO nanocomposite microspheres with hierarchical structure and enhanced photocatalytic activity and stability. Nanoscale 5(5):2142–2151
Eder D (2010) Carbon nanotube-inorganic hybrids. Chem Rev 110(3):1348–1385
Tan T, Li Y, Liu Y, Wang B, Song XM, Li E, Wang H, Yan H (2008) Two-step preparation of Ag/tetrapod-like ZnO with photocatalytic activity by thermal evaporation and sputtering. Mater Chem Phys 111(2):305–308
Gingery D, Bühlmann P (2008) Formation of gold nanoparticles on multiwalled carbon nanotubes by thermal evaporation. Carbon 46(14):1966–1972
Luo CZ, Li DL, Wu WH, Zhang YP, Pan CX (2014) Preparation of porous micronano-structure NiO/ZnO heterojunction and its photocatalytic property. RSC Adv 4:3090–3095
Chen PK, Lee GJ, Anandan S, Wu JJ (2012) Synthesis of ZnO and Au tethered ZnO pyramid-like microflower for photocatalytic degradation of orange II. Mater Sci Eng B 177(2):190–196
Zhang J, Liu XH, Wang LW, Yang TL, Guo XZ, Wu SH, Wang SR, Zhang SM (2011) Au-functionalized hematite hybrid nanospindles: general synthesis, gas sensing and catalytic properties. J Phys Chem C 115(13):5352–5357
Ahmad M, Yingying S, Nisar A, Sun HY, Shen WC, Wei M, Zhu J (2011) Synthesis of hierarchical flower-like ZnO nanostructures and their functionalization by Au nanoparticles for improved photocatalytic and high performance Li-ion battery anodes. J Mater Chem 21(21):7723–7729
Yu K, Wu ZC, Zhao QR, Li BX, Xie Y (2008) High-temperature-stable Au@SnO2 core/shell supported catalyst for CO oxidation. J Phys Chem C 112(7):2244–2247
Rodríguez JL, Valenzuela MA, Poznyak T, Lartundo L, Chairez I (2013) Reactivity of NiO for 2, 4-D degradation with ozone: XPS studies. J Hazard Mater 262:472–481
Liu JW, Li XJ, Dai LM (2006) Water-assisted growth of aligned carbon nanotube-ZnO heterojunction arrays. Adv Mater 18(13):1740–1744
Zheng YH, Zheng LR, Zhan YY, Lin XY, Zheng Q, Wei KM (2007) Ag/ZnO heterostructure nanocrystals: synthesis, characterization, and photocatalysis. Inorg Chem 46(17):6980–6986
Martha S, Parida KM (2012) Fabrication of nano N-doped In2Ga2ZnO7 for photocatalytic hydrogen production under visible light. Int J Hydrog Energy 37(23):17936–17946
Al-Gaashani R, Radiman S, Daud AR, Tabet N, Al-Douri Y (2013) XPS and optical studies of different morphologies of ZnO nanostructures prepared by microwave methods. Ceram Int 39(3):2283–2292
Wang W, Guo HT, Gao JP, Dong XH, Qin QX (2000) XPS, UPS and ESR studies on the interfacial interaction in Ni-ZrO2 composite plating. J Mater Sci 35(6):1495–1499. doi:10.1023/A:1004741215543
Cui E, Lu GX (2014) Enhanced surface electron transfer by fabricating a core/shell Ni@NiO cluster on TiO2 and its role on high efficient hydrogen generation under visible light irradiation. Int J Hydrog Energy 39(17):8959–8968
Luo CZ, Li DL, Wu WH, Yu CZ, Li WP, Pan CX (2015) Preparation of 3D reticulated ZnO/CNF/NiO heteroarchitecture for high-performance photocatalysis. Appl Catal B 166:217–223
Natile MM, Glisenti A (2003) New NiO/Co3O4 and Fe2O3/Co3O4 nanocomposite catalysts: synthesis and characterization. Chem Mater 15(13):2502–2510
Yin HH, Yu K, Song CQ, Huang R, Zhu ZQ (2014) Synthesis of Au-decorated V2O5@ZnO heteronanostructures and enhanced plasmonic photocatalytic activity. ACS Appl Mater Interface 6(17):14851–14860
Sun LL, Zhao DX, Song ZM, Shan CX, Zhang ZZ, Li BH, Shen DZ (2011) Gold nanoparticles modified ZnO nanorods with improved photocatalytic activity. J Colloid Interface Sci 363(1):175–181
Wender H, de Oliveira LF, Migowski P, Feil AF, Lissner E, Prechtl MHG, Teixeira SR, Dupont J (2010) Ionic liquid surface composition controls the size of gold nanoparticles prepared by sputtering deposition. J Phys Chem C 114(27):11764–11768
Li P, Wei Z, Wu T, Peng Q, Li YD (2011) Au-ZnO hybrid nanopyramids and their photocatalytic properties. J Am Chem Soc 133(15):5660–5663
Mu JB, Shao CL, Guo ZC, Zhang ZY, Zhang MY, Zhang P, Chen B, Liu YC (2011) High photocatalytic activity of ZnO–carbon nanofiber heteroarchitectures. ACS Appl Mater Interface 3(2):590–596
Wu JJ, Tseng CH (2006) Photocatalytic properties of nc-Au/ZnO nanorod composites. Appl Catal B 66(1):51–57
Kim J, Yong K (2012) A facile, coverage controlled deposition of Au nanoparticles on ZnO nanorods by sonochemical reaction for enhancement of photocatalytic activity. J Nanoparticle Res 14(8):1–10
Song GS, Luo CZ, Fu Q, Pan CX (2016) Hydrothermal synthesis of the novel rutile-mixed anatase TiO2 nanosheets with dominant 001 facets for high photocatalytic activity. RSC Adv 6:84035–84041
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) (No. 2009CB939705), the National Nature Science Foundation of China (No. 11174227), and the Chinese Universities Scientific Fund.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wu, J., Luo, C., Li, D. et al. Preparation of Au nanoparticle-decorated ZnO/NiO heterostructure via nonsolvent method for high-performance photocatalysis. J Mater Sci 52, 1285–1295 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-016-0424-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-016-0424-4