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Synergistic effect of Fe2O3 and CeO2 co-modified titanate nanosheet heterojunction on enhanced photocatalytic degradation

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Abstract

CeO2 and Fe2O3 co-modified titanate nanosheet (Fe2O3/CeO2@TNS) was prepared by one-pot hydrothermal method; the photocatalyst exhibited large surface area with CeO2 and Fe2O3 particles well dispersed on the surface. The results of XRD, BET, and Raman proved that the CeO2 and Fe2O3 introduced in the TNS influenced its structure evolution from 3D to 2D. The modification resulted in a shift of the absorption edge toward a longer wavelength and the band gap reduced to 2.87 eV. The three-component systems performed excellent photocatalytic activity and cycle stability on phenol and methyl blue (MB) solution under sunlight; nearly total phenol and MB were degraded in dozens of minutes. And the reaction rate constant (K) of Fe2O3/CeO2@TNS on phenol degradation was 1.77, 3.25, 4.88, and 13-fold of Fe2O3@TNS, CeO2@TNS, bare TNS, and P25, respectively. The enhanced photocatalytic activity could be ascribed to the efficient separation of photogenerated pairs through the formation of tandem n-n-n heterojunction among the three-component systems. This work will be useful for the design of other tandem n-n-n heterojunction photocatalytic systems for application in energy conversion and environmental remediation.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program, No. 2009CB939700), the Large-Scale Instrument and Equipment Sharing Foundation of Wuhan University (No. LF20170857), and Science and Technology Projects of the State Grid Zhejiang Electric Power Corporation (No. 5211DS15002H).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics and Key Laboratory of Artificial Micro- and Nano-Structures of Ministry of Education, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China

    Xiaona Zhao, Pei Wu, Dingze Lu & Pengfei Fang

  2. State Grid Zhejiang Electric Power Research Institute, Hangzhou, 310007, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of China

    Min Liu & Zhouhai Qian

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  1. Xiaona Zhao
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  2. Pei Wu
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  3. Dingze Lu
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  4. Pengfei Fang
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  5. Min Liu
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Correspondence to Pengfei Fang.

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Zhao, X., Wu, P., Lu, D. et al. Synergistic effect of Fe2O3 and CeO2 co-modified titanate nanosheet heterojunction on enhanced photocatalytic degradation. J Nanopart Res 19, 325 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-017-4013-5

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