Integrated manufacturing of REciclable multi-material COmposites for the TRANSport sector
Photocatalytic activity of Co3O4@C enhanced by induction of amorphous cobalt-based MOF
A series of Co3O4@C-N (N = 1, 2, 3) composite photocatalysts were prepared by simple agitation and pyrolysis for degradation of organic dyes. The hollow macroscopic spherical structure of Co3O4@C-2 was constructed by adjusting the pyrolysis time. Compared with pure Co3O4, the carbon composite Co3O4@C-2 significantly enhanced light absorption in the UV and visible range, improved the electron transport efficiency and prevented the necessary photoexcited electron-hole pair recombination. Hence, the photocatalytic degradation rate of methylene blue (MB, 20 mg/L) reached 100% in 120 min under UV–vis light irradiation. Under the coupling of Co3O4 and graphitized carbon, Co3O4@C-2 obtained high structural stability, good reusability and low biotoxicity. Scavenging experiments and ESR test showed that •O2- radical was the active species for MB removal. After six cycles of tests, the photocatalytic efficiency of Co3O4@C-2 remained at 90.42%. The macroscopic spherical structure Co3O4@C-2 effectively avoids the problem of dispersion and recovery of powder catalyst, which also paves a path for the designing of candidate commercial photocatalyst with high efficiency and low consumption.
» Author: Xiaoqing Wang, Shiyao Jin, Yangdong Cui, Jing Zhang, Hongjing Lu, Yujie Ren, Guoxin Du, Junhe Ji, Jionghui Li, Chunhua Xiong
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement Nº 768737
