Mesostructured ZnO/Au nanoparticle composites with enhanced photocatalytic activity

Abstract

Ease of catalyst separation from reaction mixtures represents a significant advantage in heterogeneous photocatalytic wastewater treatment. However, the activity of the catalyst strongly depends on its surface-to-volume ratio. Here, we present an approach based on cylindrical polybutadiene-block-poly(2-vinylpyridine) polymer brushes as template, which can be simultaneously loaded with zinc oxide (ZnO) and gold (Au) nanoparticles. Pyrolytic template removal of the polymer yields in mesostructured ZnO/Au composites, showing higher efficiencies in the photocatalytic degradation of ciprofloxacin and levofloxacin (generic antibiotics present in clinical wastewater) as compared to neat mesostructured ZnO. Upscaling of the presented catalyst is straightforward promising high technical relevance

Self‐Assembly of Copolymers Containing Crystallizable Blocks: Strategies and Applications

“…Those micelles are able to enhance synergistic effects on catalysis. [ 206 ] Also, they manufactured patchy nonwovens using amidated‐SEM wCCMs and PS via coaxial electrospinning and then embedded Au NPs onto them. [ 188 ] The hybrid patchy nonwovens can be used as an efficient and reusable catalysis platform.…”

Polymer Nanocomposites for Photocatalytic Applications

“…Consequently, considerable efforts were done to overcome this inconvenience along with characteristic high probability for the recombination of photogenerated charge carriers. Innovative approaches demonstrated that by coupling the ZnO with various narrow band-gap materials (metallic and nonmetallic ions [82][83][84] noble metals and oxides [85][86][87][88] or polymer-based materials [89,90] etc. ), it was possible to modulate the band-gap energy and shift the absorption wavelength to the visible region.…”

Electrostatic attraction of nanoobjects – a versatile strategy towards mesostructured transition metal compounds

“…It may be additionally enhanced by the localized surface plasmon resonance effect of the Au nanoparticles. 76 The non-woven mesostructure, moreover, ensures easy recovery from the liquid reaction medium.…”