In situ growth of well-aligned Ni-MOF nanosheets on nickel foam for enhanced photocatalytic degradation of typical volatile organic compounds

Xin Ding; Hongli Liu; Jiangyao Chen; Meicheng Wen; Guiying Li; Taicheng An; Huijun Zhao

doi:10.1039/d0nr01027h

In situ growth of well-aligned Ni-MOF nanosheets on nickel foam for enhanced photocatalytic degradation of typical volatile organic compounds

Nanoscale. 2020 May 7;12(17):9462-9470. doi: 10.1039/d0nr01027h.

Authors

Xin Ding¹, Hongli Liu², Jiangyao Chen², Meicheng Wen¹, Guiying Li², Taicheng An¹, Huijun Zhao³

Affiliations

¹ Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environmental Catalysis and Health Risk Control, Guangzhou Key Laboratory Environmental Catalysis and Pollution Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Institute of Environmental Health and Pollution Control, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China. antc99@gdut.edu.cn.
² Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environmental Catalysis and Health Risk Control, Guangzhou Key Laboratory Environmental Catalysis and Pollution Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Institute of Environmental Health and Pollution Control, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China. antc99@gdut.edu.cn and Synergy Innovation Institute of GDUT, Shantou 515041, China.
³ Centre for Clean Environment and Energy, and Griffith School of Environment, Gold Coast Campus, Griffith University, Queensland, 4222, Australia. h.zhao@griffith.edu.au.

PMID: 32347273
DOI: 10.1039/d0nr01027h

Abstract

Exploitation of highly efficient catalysts for photocatalytic degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) under visible light irradiation is highly desirable yet challenging. Herein, well-aligned 2D Ni-MOF nanosheet arrays vertically grown on porous nickel foam (Ni-MOF/NF) without lateral stacking were successfully prepared via a facile in situ solvothermal strategy. In this process, Ni foam could serve as both a skeleton to vertically support the Ni-MOF nanosheets and a self-sacrificial template to afford Ni ions for MOF growth. The Ni-MOF/NF nanosheet arrays with highly exposed active sites and light harvesting centres as well as fast mass and e- transport channels exhibited excellent photocatalytic oxidation activity and mineralization efficiency to typical VOCs emitted from the paint spray industry, which was almost impossible for their three-dimensional (3D) bulk Ni-MOF counterparts. A mineralization efficiency of 86.6% could be achieved at 98.1% of ethyl acetate removal. The related degradation mechanism and possible reaction pathways were also attempted based on the electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and online Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer (PTR-ToF-MS) results.