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Electro-assisted ammonium persulfate activation to promote the introduction of N and S into TiO2 film: Enhancing its photoelectrocatalytic performance under solar

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Abstract

Anatase phase NOx/S6+–TiO2 (x = 0, 1) film with high solar-driven activity has been successfully prepared via electro-assisted oxidation processes. The morphological and structural properties of the film were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction, while the optical property was detected by UV-vis-NIR absorption spectroscopy. The results showed that the NOx/S6+–TiO2 film was composed of “flower-like” microvoids structure and displayed broad and strong optical absorption at around 544 and 1500 nm. Transient photocurrent response, photoluminescence spectroscopy, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy indicated that the generation and separation of photogenerated charges were significantly enhanced under simulated solar irradiation. The NOx/S6+–TiO2 film exhibited excellent photoelectrocatalytic activity for the degradation of methyl orange (MO), and the decoloration rate and TOC removal respectively reached 98.97 and 59.44% at 20 min under solar irradiation. The film still had good stability after reusing ten times. Furthermore, a possible mechanism of photoelectrocatalysis was suggested in MO degradation by using NOx/S6+–TiO2 film.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Science and Technology Department of Sichuan Province (2017JZ0021, 2017SZ0039) and the Education Department of Sichuan Province (17ZA0298).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Environment, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan, 611130, China

    Changxin Li, Yan Liu, Yanzong Zhang, Lulu Long, Fei Shen, Gang Yang, Xiaohong Zhang, Yan He & Lilin Wang

  2. Institute of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, Sichuan, 611130, China

    Lulu Long, Fei Shen, Gang Yang & Shihuai Deng

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  1. Changxin Li
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  2. Yan Liu
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Correspondence to Yanzong Zhang.

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Li, C., Liu, Y., Zhang, Y. et al. Electro-assisted ammonium persulfate activation to promote the introduction of N and S into TiO2 film: Enhancing its photoelectrocatalytic performance under solar. Journal of Materials Research 34, 3573–3582 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2019.274

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