Enhanced Photocatalytic Degradation of Organic Dyes via Defect-Rich TiO<sub>2</sub> Prepared by Dielectric Barrier Discharge Plasma
Yanqin Li,
Wei Wang,
Fu Wang,
Lanbo Di,
Shengchao Yang,
Shengjie Zhu,
Yongbin Yao,
Cunhua Ma,
Bin Dai,
Feng Yu
Affiliations
Yanqin Li
Key Laboratory for Green Processing of Chemical Engineering of Xinjiang Bingtuan, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832003, China
Wei Wang
Key Laboratory for Green Processing of Chemical Engineering of Xinjiang Bingtuan, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832003, China
Fu Wang
School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
Lanbo Di
College of Physical Science and Technology, Dalian University, Dalian 116622, China
Shengchao Yang
Key Laboratory for Green Processing of Chemical Engineering of Xinjiang Bingtuan, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832003, China
Shengjie Zhu
Key Laboratory for Green Processing of Chemical Engineering of Xinjiang Bingtuan, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832003, China
Yongbin Yao
Key Laboratory for Green Processing of Chemical Engineering of Xinjiang Bingtuan, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832003, China
Cunhua Ma
Key Laboratory for Green Processing of Chemical Engineering of Xinjiang Bingtuan, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832003, China
Bin Dai
Key Laboratory for Green Processing of Chemical Engineering of Xinjiang Bingtuan, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832003, China
Feng Yu
Key Laboratory for Green Processing of Chemical Engineering of Xinjiang Bingtuan, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832003, China
The dye wastewater produced in the printing and dyeing industry causes serious harm to the natural environment. TiO2 usually shows photocatalytic degradation of dye under the irradiation ultravilet light rather than visible light. In this work, a large number of oxygen vacancies and Ti3+ defects were generated on the surface of the TiO2 nanoparticles via Ar plasma. Compared with pristine TiO2 nanoparticles, the as-obtained Ar plasma-treated TiO2 (Ar-TiO2) nanoparticles make the energy band gap reduce from 3.21 eV to 3.17 eV and exhibit enhanced photocatalytic degradation of organic dyes. The Ar-TiO2 obtained exhibited excellent degradation properties of methyl orange (MO); the degradation rate under sunlight irradiation was 99.6% in 30 min, and the photocatalytic performance was about twice that of the original TiO2 nanoparticles (49%). The degradation rate under visible light (λ > 400 nm) irradiation was 89% in 150 min, and the photocatalytic performance of the Ar-TiO2 was approaching ~4 times higher than that of the original TiO2 nanoparticles (23%). Ar-TiO2 also showed good degradation performance in degrading rhodamine B (Rho B) and methylene blue (MB). We believe that this plasma strategy provides a new method for improving the photocatalytic activity of other metal oxides.