Phenol's presence in aqueous solution due to the pollution from chemical and agricultural industries (e.g., coking tobacco leaves) causes severe environmental problems. As a result, many scientists and engineers search for catalysts to remove phenol from water by photodegradation. Thus, we synthesized Pt-doped TiO2-ZnO@ZIF-8 core@shell particles (Pt/TiO2-ZnO@ZIF-8) by a simple method involving crystallization, absorption, pyrolysis and growth steps. The resulting materials were analyzed by the powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning and transmission electron microscopies (SEM and TEM, respectively), surface area measurements and UV-vis absorption spectroscopy. The photocatalytic activities of our materials were evaluated by phenol degradation in aqueous solutions. Pt-doped TiO2-ZnO particles possessed a polyhedral structure and exhibited broad absorption above 400 nm. Coating with ZIF-8 increased the specific surface area of the Pt-doped TiO2-ZnO particles. Both Pt doping and ZIF-8 coating significantly enhanced the photocatalytic performance of TiO2-ZnO. Pt/TiO2-ZnO@ZIF-8 decomposed 99.7 % of phenol after the corresponding solution was exposed to UV light for 24 min. This performance was significantly better than the phenol decomposition ability of TiO2-ZnO, Pt/TiO2-ZnO and TiO2, which degraded 76.1 %, 95.2 % and 86.9 % of phenol, respectively. Pt/TiO2-ZnO@ZIF-8 also demonstrated excellent recycling stability. All these properties, including photostability, made our novel Pt/TiO2-ZnO@ZIF-8 catalyst a promising material for practical applications in environmental remediation.
Keywords: Phenol; Photocatalytic activity; Photostability; Pt/TiO(2)–ZnO@ZIF-8.
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