Design of a highly photocatalytically active ZnO/CuWO<sub>4</sub> nanocomposite



Mavric, T, Valant, M, Forster, M ORCID: 0000-0002-8077-7690, Cowan, AJ ORCID: 0000-0001-9032-3548, Lavrencic, U and Emin, S
(2016) Design of a highly photocatalytically active ZnO/CuWO<sub>4</sub> nanocomposite. JOURNAL OF COLLOID AND INTERFACE SCIENCE, 483. pp. 93-101.

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Abstract

Here we report the synthesis, photocatalytic activity and mechanistic study of a novel charge separation heterostructure (HTS). A ZnO/CuWO4 HTS material is reported for the first time. The nanocomposite (NC) consist of CuWO4 nanoparticles (ca. 200-400nm) decorated with ZnO nanorods (ca. 30nm, 100nm length) and is shown to be a highly active photocatalyst for the decomposition of model contaminants including methyl orange (MO) and terephthalic acid (TPA). The ZnO/CuWO4 interface is shown to be key in controlling the enhanced activity of the composite material. Transient absorption (TA) spectroscopy studies demonstrate that photoinduced charge transfer across the ZnO/CuWO4 interface increases electron-hole lifetimes by 3 orders of magnitude, from <20μs in ZnO to 30ms in the ZnO/CuWO4 NC sample. Our findings show that through interface design efficient HTS materials can be prepared for a wide range of photocatalytic applications.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Photocatalysis, Heterostructure, Nanocomposite, Methyl orange, Terephthalic acid
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 10 Aug 2016 13:19
Last Modified: 12 Oct 2023 12:00
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2016.08.019
Related URLs:
URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3002861