Construction of n-TiO₂/p-Ag₂O Junction on Carbon Fiber Cloth with Vis–NIR Photoresponse as a Filter-Membrane-Shaped Photocatalyst

Abstract

The development of effective and reusable photocatalysts with broad-spectra activity has attracted attention. Herein, we have constructed n-TiO₂/p-Ag₂O junction on carbon fiber (CF) cloth as an efficient and recyclable photocatalyst. With CF cloth as the substrate, TiO₂ nanorods (length: 1–2 µm) are prepared by a hydrothermal process, and the in-situ growth of Ag₂O nanoparticles (10–20 nm) is then realized by chemical bath deposition route. The flexible CF/TiO₂/Ag₂O cloth (area: 4 × 4 cm²) shows a broad and strong photo-absorption (200–1000 nm). Under the illumination of visible-light (λ > 400 nm), CF/TiO₂/Ag₂O cloth can efficiently eliminate 99.2% rhodamine B (RhB), 99.4% acid orange 7 (AO7), 87.6% bisphenol A (BPA), and 89.5% hexavalent chromium (Cr⁶⁺) in 100 min, superior to CF/Ag₂O cloth (83.5% RhB, 60.0% AO7, 31.2% BPA and 41.8% Cr⁶⁺). In particular, under the NIR-light illumination (980 nm laser), CF/TiO₂/Ag₂O cloth can remove 70.9% AO7 and 60.0% Cr⁶⁺ in 100 min, which are significantly higher than those by CF/Ag₂O cloth (19.8% AO7 and 18.9% Cr⁶⁺). In addition, CF/TiO₂/Ag₂O cloth (diameter: 10 cm), as a filter-membrane, can effectively wipe off 94.4% flowing RhB solution (rate: ~ 1 L h^− 1) at 6th filtering/degrading grade. Thus, CF/TiO₂/Ag₂O cloth can be used as a Vis–NIR-responded filter-membrane-shaped photocatalyst with high-efficiency for purifying wastewater.

Funding

National Key Research and Development Program of China(2016YFC0400501, 2016YFC0400502)