Trace Amounts of Co₃O₄ Nano-Particles Modified TiO₂ Nanorod Arrays for Boosted Photoelectrocatalytic Removal of Organic Pollutants in Water

Abstract

Trace amounts of Co3O4 modified TiO2 nanorod arrays were successfully fabricated through the photochemical deposition method without adding any nocuous reagents. The Co3O4/TiO2 nanorod arrays fabricated in acid solution had the highest photo-electrochemical activity. We elaborated on the mechanism of Co3O4-TiO2 fabricated in different pH value solutions. The Co3O4-TiO2 had a more remarkable photo-electrochemical performance than the pure TiO2 nanorod arrays owing to the heterojunction between Co3O4 and TiO2. The degradation of methylene blue and hydroquinone was selected as the model reactions to evaluate the photo-electrochemical performance of Co3O4-TiO2 nanorod arrays. The Co3O4/TiO2 nanorod arrays had great potential in waste water treatment.

Keywords

• photocatalytic degradation
• photo-electrocatalysis
• Co₃O₄-TiO₂
• dyes
• organic pollutants