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Novel photocatalyst nitrogen-doped simonkolleite Zn5(OH)8Cl2·H2O with vis-up-conversion photoluminescence and effective visible-light photocatalysis

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Abstract

As photocatalysts exhibit selectivity toward various pollutants, it is necessary to develop different and novel photocatalysts. In this work, a novel photocatalyst-nitrogen-doped simonkolleite Zn5(OH)8Cl2·H2O (DSM) is prepared through a new facile method: calcinating the mixture of zinc hydroxide, urea, and guanidine hydrochloride at 575 °C for 1 h in a furnace with an air atmosphere. The as-prepared sample was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), photoluminescence (PL) spectra, UV–visble near-infrared diffuse reflection spectra (UV–Vis–NIR DRS), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) method, Ramen spectra and Zeta potential measurement, photocatalytic properties, as well as active species trapping experiments. XRD and XPS show the as-prepared powder is nitrogen-doped simonkolleite Zn5(OH)8Cl2H2O (DSM) with a small ZnCl2 fraction. SEM investigation indicates that the as-prepared powder possesses a flower-like layered shape. The UV–Vis–NIR exhibits that after doping, the DSM possesses strong light absorption in the ranges of 300–500 and 1400–2500 nm, a direct electronic transition with a band gap energy of 2.469 eV. PL measurement reveals a strong photoluminescence and an up-conversion from lower to higher-energy visible light in as-prepared samples. Zeta potential investigations show that during photocatalysis, the charges on as-prepared photocatalyst are positive. The photocatalytic experiments show a good dark adsorption, a high photodegradation (99.4% at 60 min), a high pseudo-first-order constant (k) of 0.0261 min−1. Meanwhile, the active species trapping experiments suggest that hole (h+) is the dominant active species during photocatalysis. It is concluded that the doping favors in enhancing vis-light-photocatalysis. This work makes a significant contribution to the literature.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant nos. 51672090 and 51372092).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Guangdong Engineering Technology Research Center of Efficient Green Energy and Environmental Protection Materials, School of Physics and Telecommunication, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510006, China

    Junfeng He, Jiamin Hu, Xi Mo, Zhili Fan, Guannan He, Yinzhen Wang, Wei Li & Qinyu He

  2. Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA

    Qing Hao

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  1. Junfeng He
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Correspondence to Qinyu He.

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He, J., Hu, J., Mo, X. et al. Novel photocatalyst nitrogen-doped simonkolleite Zn5(OH)8Cl2·H2O with vis-up-conversion photoluminescence and effective visible-light photocatalysis. Appl. Phys. A 125, 3 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-018-2275-0

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