Design of a highly photocatalytically active ZnO/CuWO4 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/CuWO4 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:	19 Jan 2023 07:32
DOI:	10.1016/j.jcis.2016.08.019
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3002861