Tuneable Functionalization of Glass Fibre Membranes with ZnO/SnO<sub>2</sub> Heterostructures for Photocatalytic Water Treatment: Effect of SnO<sub>2</sub> Coverage Rate on the Photocatalytic Degradation of Organics

oleh: Vincent Rogé, Joffrey Didierjean, Jonathan Crêpellière, Didier Arl, Marc Michel, Ioana Fechete, Aziz Dinia, Damien Lenoble

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2020-07-01

Deskripsi

The construction of a ZnO/SnO<sub>2</sub> heterostructure is considered in the literature as an efficient strategy to improve photocatalytic properties of ZnO due to an electron/hole delocalisation process. This study is dedicated to an investigation of the photocatalytic performance of ZnO/SnO<sub>2</sub> heterostructures directly synthesized in macroporous glass fibres membranes. Hydrothermal ZnO nanorods have been functionalized with SnO<sub>2</sub> using an atomic layer deposition (ALD) process. The coverage rate of SnO<sub>2</sub> on ZnO nanorods was precisely tailored by controlling the number of ALD cycles. We highlight here the tight control of the photocatalytic properties of the ZnO/SnO<sub>2</sub> structure according to the coverage rate of SnO<sub>2</sub> on the ZnO nanorods. We show that the highest degradation of methylene blue is obtained when a 40% coverage rate of SnO<sub>2</sub> is reached. Interestingly, we also demonstrate that a higher coverage rate leads to a full passivation of the photocatalyst. In addition, we highlight that 40% coverage rate of SnO<sub>2</sub> onto ZnO is sufficient for getting a protective layer, leading to a more stable photocatalyst in reuse.