Highly Porous and Ultra-Lightweight Aero-Ga<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>: Enhancement of Photocatalytic Activity by Noble Metals
Irina Plesco,
Vladimir Ciobanu,
Tudor Braniste,
Veaceslav Ursaki,
Florian Rasch,
Andrei Sarua,
Simion Raevschi,
Rainer Adelung,
Joydeep Dutta,
Ion Tiginyanu
Affiliations
Irina Plesco
National Center for Materials Study and Testing, Technical University of Moldova, Stefan cel Mare Av. 168, MD-2004 Chisinau, Moldova
Vladimir Ciobanu
National Center for Materials Study and Testing, Technical University of Moldova, Stefan cel Mare Av. 168, MD-2004 Chisinau, Moldova
Tudor Braniste
National Center for Materials Study and Testing, Technical University of Moldova, Stefan cel Mare Av. 168, MD-2004 Chisinau, Moldova
Veaceslav Ursaki
National Center for Materials Study and Testing, Technical University of Moldova, Stefan cel Mare Av. 168, MD-2004 Chisinau, Moldova
Florian Rasch
Functional Nanomaterials, Institute for Materials Science, Kiel University, Kaiser Str. 2, 24143 Kiel, Germany
Andrei Sarua
H. H. Wills Physics Laboratory, School of Physics, University of Bristol, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TL, UK
Simion Raevschi
Department of Physics and Engineering, State University of Moldova, Alexei Mateevici Str. 60, MD-2009 Chisinau, Moldova
Rainer Adelung
Functional Nanomaterials, Institute for Materials Science, Kiel University, Kaiser Str. 2, 24143 Kiel, Germany
Joydeep Dutta
Functional Materials Group, Applied Physics Department, School of Engineering Sciences, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Hannes Alfvéns väg 12, 11419 Stockholm, Sweden
Ion Tiginyanu
National Center for Materials Study and Testing, Technical University of Moldova, Stefan cel Mare Av. 168, MD-2004 Chisinau, Moldova
A new type of photocatalyst is proposed on the basis of aero-β-Ga2O3, which is a material constructed from a network of interconnected tetrapods with arms in the form of microtubes with nanometric walls. The aero-Ga2O3 material is obtained by annealing of aero-GaN fabricated by epitaxial growth on ZnO microtetrapods. The hybrid structures composed of aero-Ga2O3 functionalized with Au or Pt nanodots were tested for the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue dye under UV or visible light illumination. The functionalization of aero-Ga2O3 with noble metals results in the enhancement of the photocatalytic performances of bare material, reaching the performances inherent to ZnO while gaining the advantage of the increased chemical stability. The mechanisms of enhancement of the photocatalytic properties by activating aero-Ga2O3 with noble metals are discussed to elucidate their potential for environmental applications.
