Applied Sciences (Nov 2021)

Metal Titanate (ATiO<sub>3</sub>, A: Ni, Co, Mg, Zn) Nanorods for Toluene Photooxidation under LED Illumination

  • Anna P. Souri,
  • Natalia Andrigiannaki,
  • Marilena Moschogiannaki,
  • Vasiliki Faka,
  • George Kiriakidis,
  • Anna Malankowska,
  • Adriana Zaleska-Medynska,
  • Vassilios Binas

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/app112210850
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 22
p. 10850

Abstract

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The increasing air pollution taking place in virtue of human activity has a novel impact in our health. Heterogeneous photocatalysis is a promising way of degrading volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that makes the quest of new and improved photocatalysts of great importance. Herein, perovskite-related materials ATiO3 with A = Mg, Ni, Co, Zn were synthesized through an ethylene glycol-mediated root, with ethylene glycol being used as a solvent and ligand. Characterization techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy, and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDX), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), UV-vis spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), and photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL) were used in order to confirm the structure, the nanorod morphology, their absorption in UV-vis, and the separation efficiency of photogenerated charge carriers. The highest photoactivity was observed for ZnTiO3 in which 62% of toluene was decomposed after 60 min under LED illumination (54 mW/cm2).

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