Structural and photocatalytic properties of rice granular CaIn₂O₄/In₂O₃ fabricated by electrospinning

Abstract

The rice granular CaIn2O4/In2O3was successfully synthesized via the electrospinning method using calcium nitrate and indium nitrate as the raw materials, polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP-K30) as a template and ethanol as a solvent. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD),scanning electron microscope (SEM),energy spectrum analysis (EDS),transmission electron microscopy (TEM),UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-vis DRS) and N2 adsorption-desorption isotherm. The effect of pH value and the initial concentration of methylene blue(MB) on the photocatalytic performance of CaIn2O4/In2O3 was discussed. The results show that the composites consist of orthorhombic CaIn2O4 and cubic In2O3, with particle size of (650±140) nm, energy gap of 3.48 eV and specific surface area of 17.2 m2·g-1. The degradation rate of MB reaches 92% when it is irradiated by simulated sunlight for 120 min and the photocatalysis degradation process fits the first-order kinetic model. Meanwhile, CaIn2O4/In2O3 has an excellent reusability and stability. The coupling of CaIn2O4 and In2O3 enables the photogenerated carriers to be effectively separated and therefore produces CaIn2O4/In2O3 composites with excellent photocatalytic performance.

Keywords

• cain₂o₄/in₂o₃
• photocatalysis
• degradation
• mb
• simulated sunlight