Synthesis of V-modified TiO2 nanorod-aggregates by a facile microwave-assisted hydrothermal process and photocatalytic degradation towards PCP-Na under solar light

Rong Han; Jinwen Liu; Nan Chen; Gang Wang; Yakai Guo; Hongtao Wang

doi:10.1039/c9ra05480d

Synthesis of V-modified TiO₂ nanorod-aggregates by a facile microwave-assisted hydrothermal process and photocatalytic degradation towards PCP-Na under solar light

RSC Adv. 2019 Oct 29;9(60):34862-34871. doi: 10.1039/c9ra05480d. eCollection 2019 Oct 28.

Authors

Rong Han^{1

2}, Jinwen Liu³, Nan Chen^{1

2}, Gang Wang^{1

2}, Yakai Guo^{1

2}, Hongtao Wang⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Chang'an University Xi'an 710064 China.
² Key Laboratory of Environmental Protection, Pollution and Remediation of Water and Soil of Shaanxi Province Xi'an 710064 China.
³ School of Environmental and Municipal Engineering, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology Xi'an 710054 China 149983457@qq.com +86-29-82339952.
⁴ School of Environment, Tsinghua University Beijing 100084 China.

Abstract

Herein, novel V-modified titania nanorod-aggregates (VTNA), consisting of fine individual nanorods in radial direction, were fabricated via an efficient microwave-assisted hydrothermal (MWH) route. VTNA with high crystallinity and homogeneous mesopores were obtained by 30 min MWH processing at 190 °C; moreover, a mixed rutile-anatase phase appeared after vanadium doping. XPS analysis revealed that vanadium existed in the forms of V⁴⁺ and V⁵⁺ on the surface of MWV05 with V⁵⁺ being the dominant component, the content of which was approximately 3.5 times that of V⁴⁺. Vanadium implanting was achieved efficiently by doping 0.5 and 1 at% V using a rapid MWH process and contributed towards the dramatic improvement of the visible-light response, with E _g decreasing from 2.91 to 2.71 and 2.57 eV with the increasing V doping content. MWV05 exhibited optimal photocatalytic degradation activity of water-soluble PCP-Na under solar light irradiation. The enhanced photodecomposition was attributed to the red-shift in the TiO₂ band-gap caused by vanadium impregnation, efficient charge separation due to the V⁴⁺/V⁵⁺ synergistic effects and the free migration of charge carriers along the radial direction of the nanorods arranged in a self-assembled VTNA microstructure.