Acta Phys. -Chim. Sin. ›› 2017, Vol. 33 ›› Issue (10): 2082-2091.doi: 10.3866/PKU.WHXB201705176

• ARTICLE • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Noble Metal-Supported on Rod-Like ZnO Photocatalysts with Enhanced Photocatalytic Performance

Yang CHEN1,3,Xiao-Yan YANG2,3,*(),Peng ZHANG3,Dao-Sheng LIU1,*(),Jian-Zhou GUI1,3,Hai-Long PENG3,Dan LIU1,3,*()   

  1. 1 Division of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Environment, Liaoning Shihua University, Fushun 113001, Liaoning Porvince, P. R. China
    2 School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shangqiu Normal University, Shangqiu 476000, Henan Porvince, P. R. China
    3 State Key Laboratory of Separation Membranes & Membrane Processes, School of Environmental & Chemical Engineering, Tianjin Polytechnic University, Tianjin 300387, P. R. China
  • Received:2017-03-10 Published:2017-07-17
  • Contact: Xiao-Yan YANG,Dao-Sheng LIU,Dan LIU E-mail:yxysmallyxy@aliyun.com.;dsliu05@126.com;danliu_939@hotmail.com
  • Supported by:
    the National Natural Science Foundation of China(21576211);Key Scientific and Technological Project of the Education Department of Henan Province, China(16A150019)

Abstract:

In the present work, we successfully synthesized ZnO nanorods under hydrothermal conditions, which have been utilized as the matrix to fabricate various noble metal (Pt, Pd, and Ru)-supported ZnO photocatalysts by subsequent reduction with ethylene glycol. In terms of systematic characterization, it was found that the Pt particles in the Pt/ZnO composite have small size with narrow size distribution, while the Pd particles in the Pd/ZnO composite have a larger size distribution due to aggregation. On the other hand, no Ru particles were practically observed in the Ru/ZnO composite. In the photodegradation of a methylene blue solution under UV light irradiation, both Pt/ZnO and Pd/ZnO exhibited significantly enhanced photocatalytic activity compared with the ZnO nanorods, whereas no noticeable increase of catalytic activity could be observed in the case of Ru/ZnO. Furthermore, the photocatalytic activity of the Pt/ZnO catalyst was higher than that of Pd/ZnO, due to its small-sized and uniform Pt particles. Therefore, noble metal particles with small size and high dispersion contribute to the enhancement of the photocatalytic performance of ZnO materials. After detailed investigation of various Pt/ZnO composites with different Pt loadings, it was demonstrated that the optimal Pt loading required to maximally improve the photocatalytic performance of ZnO nanorods corresponds to 3.2%.

Key words: Zinc oxide, Photocatalysis, Supported Noble Metal, Photodegradation, Methylene blue