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Enhancement of photocatalytic performance of TaON by combining it with noble-metal-free MoS2 cocatalysts

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Abstract

Utilizing cocatalysts is an effective measure to enhance photocatalytic activities of photocatalysts. Nevertheless, noble-metal cocatalysts such as Pt and Au impose astounding costs on the application of photocatalytic technology. Herein, noble-metal-free MoS2 was used as a cocatalyst to improve the photocatalytic activity of visible-light-responsive TaON for the first time. This work indicates that MoS2/TaON presented higher activity than Pt/TaON while MoS2 costs much less than Pt. The photocatalytic degradation ratio of RhB over Ta1Mo1 (mass ratio of TaON:MoS2 = 1:1) was about 65% after 2 h visible light irradiation, which is about five times higher than that of pure TaON. Furthermore, MoS2/SiO2/TaON ternary photocatalysts were constructed to further improve the photocatalytic performance. When the mass ratio of Ta8Si1 (mass ratio of TaON:SiO2 = 8:1) to MoS2 was 1:1, the degradation ratio of RhB reached 75% after 2 h visible light irradiation. This work provides a facile method to construct high-efficient photocatalysts with the noble-metal-free cocatalyst MoS2, paving the way to realize the application of cheap and environment-friendly photocatalysis.

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Acknowledgements

Financial support from National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51872138), Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (Nos. BK20150919, BK20181380), Jiangsu Province Postdoctoral Fund (No. 1302096C), Key University Science Research Project of Jiangsu Province (No. 15KJB430022), Priority Academic Program Development of the Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PAPD), Qing Lan Project, Six Talent Peaks Project in Jiangsu Province (No. XCL-029), Postgraduate Research and Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province (KYCX18_1083) is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing, 210009, People’s Republic of China

    Yukai Chen, Lijuan Tan, Menglong Sun, Chunhua Lu, Jiahui Kou & Zhongzi Xu

  2. Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center for Advanced Inorganic Function Composites, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing, 210009, People’s Republic of China

    Yukai Chen, Lijuan Tan, Menglong Sun, Chunhua Lu, Jiahui Kou & Zhongzi Xu

  3. Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM), Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing, 210009, People’s Republic of China

    Yukai Chen, Lijuan Tan, Menglong Sun, Chunhua Lu, Jiahui Kou & Zhongzi Xu

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  1. Yukai Chen
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Correspondence to Chunhua Lu or Jiahui Kou.

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Chen, Y., Tan, L., Sun, M. et al. Enhancement of photocatalytic performance of TaON by combining it with noble-metal-free MoS2 cocatalysts. J Mater Sci 54, 5321–5330 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-018-03214-9

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