Chitosan-Ag-TiO2 films: An effective photocatalyst under visible light

A Jbeli; Z Hamden; S Bouattour; A M Ferraria; D S Conceição; L F Vieira Ferreira; M M Chehimi; A M Botelho do Rego; M Rei Vilar; S Boufi

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2018.06.122

Chitosan-Ag-TiO₂ films: An effective photocatalyst under visible light

Carbohydr Polym. 2018 Nov 1:199:31-40. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2018.06.122. Epub 2018 Jul 2.

Authors

A Jbeli¹, Z Hamden², S Bouattour³, A M Ferraria⁴, D S Conceição⁵, L F Vieira Ferreira⁶, M M Chehimi⁷, A M Botelho do Rego⁸, M Rei Vilar⁹, S Boufi¹⁰

Affiliations

¹ University of Sfax, Faculty of Science, LCI, BP1171-3018 Sfax, Tunisia. Electronic address: amira.jebli@yahoo.fr.
² University of Sfax, Faculty of Science, LCI, BP1171-3018 Sfax, Tunisia. Electronic address: zeineb.hamden@yahoo.fr.
³ University of Sfax, Faculty of Science, LCI, BP1171-3018 Sfax, Tunisia. Electronic address: soraa.boufi@yahoo.com.
⁴ CQFM-Centro de Química-Física Molecular and IN-Institute for Nanosciences and Nanotechnologies and IBB-Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal. Electronic address: ana.ferraria@tecnico.ulisboa.pt.
⁵ CQFM-Centro de Química-Física Molecular and IN-Institute for Nanosciences and Nanotechnologies and IBB-Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal. Electronic address: david.conceicao@tecnico.ulisboa.pt.
⁶ CQFM-Centro de Química-Física Molecular and IN-Institute for Nanosciences and Nanotechnologies and IBB-Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal. Electronic address: luisfilipevf@tecnico.ulisboa.pt.
⁷ ITODYS, UMR7086 CNRS, Université Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France; Université Paris Est, ICMPE, UMR7182 CNRS, UPEC, F-94320 Thiais, France. Electronic address: mmchehimi@yahoo.fr.
⁸ CQFM-Centro de Química-Física Molecular and IN-Institute for Nanosciences and Nanotechnologies and IBB-Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal. Electronic address: amrego@tecnico.ulisboa.pt.
⁹ ITODYS, UMR7086 CNRS, Université Paris Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France. Electronic address: manuel.rei-vilar@univ-paris-diderot.fr.
¹⁰ University of Sfax, Faculty of Science, LMES, BP 1171-3018 Sfax, Tunisia. Electronic address: Sami.Boufi@fss.rnu.tn.

PMID: 30143134
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2018.06.122

Abstract

Aiming the degradation of harmful molecules under visible light, new photocatalytic systems were created. For this purpose, the surface of chitosan thin films was modified in heterogeneous phase via a simple and straightforward mild chemical process: chemisorption of silver ions followed by the synthesis in situ of TiO₂ at low temperature (100 °C). A high photocatalytic activity under visible light was observed, leading to the degradation and/or mineralization of different organic products such as o-toluidine, salicylic acid and 4-aminomethyl benzoic acid. This efficiency is partly attributed to the formation of Ag NPs and also to the unexpected appearance of AgCl NPs, likely formed from the residual chlorine contained in the chitosan. The resulting TiO₂/Ag/AgCl/Chitosan system is easy to prepare under mild conditions, avoiding calcination treatments and opens new perspectives for the production of visible light-driven photocatalysts. Samples were analysed by different techniques: XRD, Raman, FE-SEM, XPS, TGA, GSDR, LIF and LIP.

Keywords: Ag/AgCl; Chitosan; Photocatalysis; TiO(2).