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. 2023 Mar 30;28(7):3072.
doi: 10.3390/molecules28073072.

Controllable Fabrication of Zn2+ Self-Doped TiO2 Tubular Nanocomposite for Highly Efficient Water Treatment

Hassan M A Hassan  1 , Ibrahim H Alsohaimi  1 , Amr A Essawy  1 , Mohamed R El-Aassar  1 , Mohamed A Betiha  2 , Alhulw H Alshammari  3 , Shaimaa K Mohamed  4
Affiliations

Controllable Fabrication of Zn2+ Self-Doped TiO2 Tubular Nanocomposite for Highly Efficient Water Treatment

Hassan M A Hassan et al. Molecules. .

Abstract

Tailoring high-efficiency photocatalytic composites for various implementations is a major research topic. 1D TNTs-based nanomaterials show promise as a photocatalyst for the remediation of organic pigments in an aqueous solution. Despite this, TiO2 (TNTs) is only photoactive in the UV range due to its inherent restriction on absorption of light in the UV range. Herein, we provide a facile recipe to tailor the optical characteristics and photocatalytic activity of TNTs by incorporating Zn (II) ionic species via an ion-exchange approach in an aqueous solution. The inclusion of Zn (II) ions into the TNTs framework expands its absorption of light toward the visible light range, therefore TiO2 nanotubes shows the visible-light photo-performance. Activity performance on photocatalytic decontamination of RhB at ambient temperature demonstrates that Zn-TNTs offer considerable boosted catalytic performance compared with untreated tubular TiO2 during the illumination of visible light. RhB (10 mg L-1) degradation of around 95% was achieved at 120 min. Radical scavenger experiment demonstrated that when electron (e-) or holes (h+) scavengers are introduced to the photodegradation process, the assessment of decontamination efficacy decreased by 45% and 76%, respectively. This demonstrates a more efficient engagement of the photoexcited electrons over photogenerated holes in the photodegradation mechanism. Furthermore, there seems to be no significant decrease in the activity of the Zn-TNTs after five consecutive runs. As a result, the fabricated Zn-TNTs composite has a high economic potential in the energy and environmental domains.

Keywords: Zn (II) ions; organic pollutants; photocatalysis; rhodamine B; titania nanotubes; visible light.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(a) XRD patterns and (b) Raman spectroscopy of undoped TNTs and Zn-doped TNTs (Zn-TNTs).
Figure 2
Figure 2
(a) UV-vis spectra and (b) Tauc’s grphs of undoped TNTs and Zn-doped TNTs (Zn-TNTs).
Figure 3
Figure 3
De-convoluted XPS spectra of (a) Ti2p, (b) Zn2p, and (c) O1s of Zn-TNTs nanocomposite.
Figure 4
Figure 4
(a) N2 isotherms (b) pore size distribution of undoped TNTs and Zn-doped TNTs (Zn-TNTs).
Figure 5
Figure 5
HRTEM with different magnification (A–C) and EDX analysis of Zn-doped TNTs (Zn-TNTs) (D).
Figure 6
Figure 6
Displays (a) the changes in the absorption spectrum of RhB over time during solar-driven photocatalytic degradation in the presence of Zn-TNTs, (b) the photocatalytic performance for the degradation of RhB under visible-light irradiation, and (c) the kinetic evaluation for RhB degradation utilizing both TNTs and Zn-TNTs.
Figure 7
Figure 7
The photodegradation activity of Zn-TNTs in decontamination of RhB under visible-light irradiation in the existence of Na2-EDTA as hole scavenger and TBA as electron scavenger.
Figure 8
Figure 8
(a) Durability of Zn-TNTs in photodegrading RhB up to five runs under visible-light irradiation for 120 min, and (b) XRD patterns of Zn-TNTs before and after 5 consecutive runs.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Suggested tentative mechanism for photocatalytic decontamination of RhB over Zn-TNTs.
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