Synthesis of TiO2NWS@AuNPS Composite Catalyst for Methylene Blue Removal

Fan Fu; Feifei Wang; Ting Li; Chenlu Jiao; Yan Zhang; Yuyue Chen

doi:10.3390/ma11061022

Synthesis of TiO_2NWS@Au_NPS Composite Catalyst for Methylene Blue Removal

Materials (Basel). 2018 Jun 15;11(6):1022. doi: 10.3390/ma11061022.

Authors

Fan Fu¹, Feifei Wang², Ting Li³, Chenlu Jiao⁴, Yan Zhang^{5

6}, Yuyue Chen⁷

Affiliations

¹ National Engineering Laboratory for Modern Silk, College of Textile and Clothing Engineering, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China. fanfu326@163.com.
² National Engineering Laboratory for Modern Silk, College of Textile and Clothing Engineering, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China. ffwang@stu.suda.edu.cn.
³ National Engineering Laboratory for Modern Silk, College of Textile and Clothing Engineering, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China. liting507@yeah.net.
⁴ National Engineering Laboratory for Modern Silk, College of Textile and Clothing Engineering, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China. jiaochenlu2013@163.com.
⁵ National Engineering Laboratory for Modern Silk, College of Textile and Clothing Engineering, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China. yanzhang86@suda.edu.cn.
⁶ Nantong Textile & Silk Industrial Technology Research Institute, Nantong 226314, China. yanzhang86@suda.edu.cn.
⁷ National Engineering Laboratory for Modern Silk, College of Textile and Clothing Engineering, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China. Chenyy@suda.edu.cn.

Abstract

In this article, HBP-NH₂-modified titania nanowire (TiO_2NWS)-decorated Au nanoparticles (TiO_2NWS@Au_NPS) were synthesized by one-step method. The role of HBP-NH₂ concentration in the formation of TiO_2NWS was investigated. The fineness and uniformity of pure TiO_2NWS were enhanced by absorbed amino groups from amino-terminated hyperbranched polymer (HBP-NH₂). The morphology and crystal structure of TiO_2NWS and TiO_2NWS@Au_NPS were examined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fournier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The chemical states of gold, titanium and oxygen were analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The results showed that at the concentration of HBP-NH₂ 100 g/L, the mean diameter of TiO_2NWS was nearly 72 nm and Au nanoparticles were uniformly distributed on the surface of TiO_2NWS. The presence of Au_NPS improved the photocatalytic properties of TiO_2NWS under UV light irradiation. The Au load was believed to improve the utilization rate of the photoelectron and activated the adsorbed oxygen. The obtained TiO_2NWS@Au_NPS decomposed 99.6% methylene blue (MB) after 300 min when subjected to UV light irradiation. After five cycles of the catalyzing process, the TiO_2NWS@Au_NPS still retained over 90% of its catalytic ability for MB. The Au deposition was found responsible for the high catalytic activity of TiO_2NWS@Au_NPS.

Keywords: TiO2NWS@AuNPS composite; catalysis; methylene blue degradation; one step synthesis.