Hydrogen titanate nanosheets with both adsorptive and photocatalytic properties used for organic dyes removal

作者:Hua, Shengzhuo; Yu, Xinxiao; Li, Fan; Duan, Jun; Ji, Haodong; Liu, Wen*
来源:Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects , 2017, 516: 211-218.
DOI:10.1016/j.colsurfa.2016.12.031

摘要

Titanate nanomaterials have drawn increasing interests due to their special properties, such as ion-exchange performance and photo-activity. In this study, a hydrogen tianate nanosheet (H-TNS) was synthesized through a one-step hydrothermal method. The material shows both good adsorptive and photocatalytic properties, thus can firstly concentrate and then degrade organic dyes through combined adsorption and photocatalysis. H-INS is a kind of 2D tri-titanate (H2Ti3O7) nanosheet with fine crystal structure, which composes of [TiO6] octahedron skeleton and interlayered H+. Ion-exchange between the dye cation and H+ in the interlayers is the primary adsorption mechanism. Moreover, protonation of titanate can enhance its photocatalytic activity due to the narrowed band gap energy (E-g) and improved visible light adsorption. H-INS could quickly capture MB and RhB from solutions, with an equilibrium time of 180 min. Langmuir model fitted well with the isotherm data (R-2 > 0.99), and the simulated monolayer maximum adsorption capacity of MB and RhB was 81.5 mg/g and 52.9 mg/g, respectively. Furthermore, the adsorbed MB and RhB on H-INS could be further photo-degraded under UV light, resulting in a final removal efficiency of 99.9% and 92.7% for the two dyes, respectively. In addition, H-INS also could be efficiently reused over 5 cycles.