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Two-dimensional reduced siloxene metal-free semiconductor for enhanced photocatalytic performance

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Abstract

Photocatalytic degradation is an advanced process which utilizes light for degradation of organic pollutants. In this study, we have investigated the photocatalytic properties of reduced siloxene nanosheets for the removal of dyes from wastewater. Reduction of siloxene resulted in a decreased bandgap from 2.7 to 2.3 eV, allowing for better absorption of visible light, and quenched photoluminescence, indicating increased efficiency in the utilization of the absorbed light energy for photocatalytic reactions. The catalytic activity of the reduced siloxene nanosheets followed a pseudo-second-order model and exhibited an adsorption capacity of 9.6 mg/g for Methylene Blue Dye (MB). Our results demonstrate that reduced siloxene nanosheets have significant potential as an efficient and effective catalyst for removing organic pollutants from wastewater. The reduction induced changes in the bandgap and photoluminescence quenching contributed to enhanced increase in catalytic activity (78%) as compared to the siloxene (53%).

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Acknowledgments

The authors express their gratitude for the financial support received from the Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Technology Mission Division, India, through grant no. DST/TM/WTI/WIC/2K17/100(C). Additionally, this study was supported by the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), India, under grant no. EMR/2017/005144.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Research in Nanotechnology and Science, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, MH, 400076, India

    Nav Deepak, Shobha Shukla & Sumit Saxena

  2. Nanostructures Engineering and Modeling Laboratory, Department of Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, MH, 400076, India

    Nav Deepak, Shobha Shukla & Sumit Saxena

  3. Water Innovation Center: Technology Research & Education, Department of Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, MH, 400076, India

    Shobha Shukla & Sumit Saxena

Authors
  1. Nav Deepak
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  2. Shobha Shukla
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Contributions

Nav Deepak: conceptualization, experimentation, data analysis and writing original draft. Sumit Saxena: supervising the project, editing manuscript. Shobha Shukla: manuscript editing

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Correspondence to Sumit Saxena.

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Deepak, N., Shukla, S. & Saxena, S. Two-dimensional reduced siloxene metal-free semiconductor for enhanced photocatalytic performance. MRS Advances (2024). https://doi.org/10.1557/s43580-024-00870-9

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