TiO2 Fibers Supported β-FeOOH Nanostructures as Efficient Visible Light Photocatalyst and Room Temperature Sensor

Abstract

Hierarchical heterostructures of beta-iron oxyhydroxide (β-FeOOH) nanostructures on electrospun TiO2 nanofibers were synthesized by a facile hydrothermal method. This synthesis method proves to be versatile to tailoring of β-FeOOH structural design that cuts across zero-dimensional particles (TF-P), one-dimensional needles (TF-N) to two-dimensional flakes (TF-F). In addition, synthesizing such oxyhyroxide nanostructures presents the advantage of exhibiting similar functional performances to its oxides counterpart however, without the need to undergo any annealing step which leads to undesirable structural collapse or sintering. The as-prepared hierarchical heterostructures possess high surface area for dye adsorptivity, efficient charge separation and visible photocatalytic activity. Also, for the first time, hydrogen gas sensing has been demonstrated on β-FeOOH nanostructures at room temperature. The reported hierarchical heterostructures of β-FeOOH on TiO2 nanofibers afford multiple functions of photocatalysis and sensing which are highly promising for environment monitoring and clean up applications.

Iron–Titanium Oxide Nanocomposites Functionalized with Gold Particles: From Design to Solar Hydrogen Production

“…For sample Fe 2 O 3 –TiO 2 –Au, wide scan XPS spectra (Supporting Information, Figure S5a) evidenced the presence of Au, Ti, Fe, and O, along with C signals arising from adventitious contamination. For all specimens, the position of the Fe2p spin‐orbit components [binding energy (BE) (Fe2p 3/2 ) = 711.1 eV; BE (Fe2p 1/2 ) = 724.8 eV], along with the very weak shake‐up satellites located at BE ≈9 eV higher than the main spin‐orbit split components, are characteristic of Fe(III) centers in Fe 2 O 3 , free from other oxidation states in appreciable amounts . Irrespective of the adopted processing conditions, the presence of iron was always detected on the sample surface.…”

“…In this regard, TiO 2 is considered to be the most interesting candidate for commercial scale‐up thanks to its favorable photocatalytic properties, as well as low cost, nontoxicity, and chemical stability . Nevertheless, detrimental issues such as the fast charge carrier recombination in titania and its large band gap ( E G = 3.2 eV), resulting in the sole absorption of UV photons (≈4% of the whole solar spectrum), severely limit TiO 2 applications in sunlight and indoor environment . To extend TiO 2 photoactivity into the visible (vis) region and minimize recombination phenomena, several approaches have been undertaken, including doping with metals/nonmetals and preparation of TiO 2 ‐based composites involving other active materials .…”

“…To extend TiO 2 photoactivity into the visible (vis) region and minimize recombination phenomena, several approaches have been undertaken, including doping with metals/nonmetals and preparation of TiO 2 ‐based composites involving other active materials . In this regard, another promising photocatalyst is hematite (α‐Fe 2 O 3 ), an n ‐type semiconductor with a smaller band gap ( E G = 2.2 eV), enabling vis light absorption . Similarly to TiO 2 , Fe 2 O 3 is environmentally friendly, inexpensive and stable .…”

Enhanced Catalytic Activity in Liquid‐Exfoliated FeOCl Nanosheets as a Fenton‐Like Catalyst

“…Despite as eries of Fentonc ompounds (FeOOH, Fe 2 O 3 ,F eS), few-layer MoS 2 nanosheets, Fe 2 O 3 /graphene, graphite oxide (GO)-Fe 3 O 4 , and b-FeOOH-TiO 2 being applied to the heterogeneous reaction, [14][15][16][17][18][19][20] these Fentona gents either cause secondary pollution in the treatment procedure or need rigorous conditions such as acidic medium, ultraviolet light, or high temperature, which greatly limits their practical applications. [20][21][22] FeOCl,a sa no xyhalidec ompound, possesses orthorhombic system with al ayered structure, in which the adjacent layers are bonded across interlayer atoms by van der Waals interactions. [23] FeOCli s often used as the host materialofintercalation compounds because of the weak interaction between the layers.…”

Facile Synthesis and High Photocatalytic Degradation Performance of ZnO-SnO2 Hollow Spheres

“…Currently, coupled semiconductor photocatalysts are regarded as the effective method to enhance the photocatalytic activity by increasing the charge separation and extending the photo-responding range [11–16]. As we know, there are many researches on the coupled ZnO-SnO 2 photocatalysts [17–20].…”