title: Structuring β-Ga2O3 photonic crystal photocatalyst for efficient degradation of organic pollutants.
abstract: Coupling photocatalysts with photonic crystals structure is based on the unique property of photonic crystals in confining, controlling, and manipulating the incident photons. This combination enhances the light absorption in photocatalysts and thus greatly improves their photocatalytic performance. In this study, Ga2O3 photonic crystals with well-arranged skeleton structures were prepared via a dip-coating infiltration method. The positions of the electronic band absorption for Ga2O3 photonic crystals could be made to locate on the red edge, on the blue edge, and away from the edge of their photonic band gaps by changing the pore sizes of the samples, respectively. Particularly, the electronic band absorption of the Ga2O3 photonic crystal with a pore size of 135 nm was enhanced more than other samples by making it locate on the red edge of its photonic band gap, which was confirmed by the higher instantaneous photocurrent and photocatalytic activity for the degradation of various organic pollutants under ultraviolet light irradiation. Furthermore, the degradation mechanism over Ga2O3 photonic crystals was discussed. The design of Ga2O3 photonic crystals presents a prospective application of photonic crystals in photocatalysis to address light harvesting and quantum efficiency problems through manipulating photons or constructing photonic crystal structure as groundwork.
authors.affiliation: Research Institute of Photocatalysis, State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Photocatalysis, Fuzhou University , Fuzhou 350002, PR China.
authors.forename: Xiaofang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Xiuzheng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhen
authors.forename: Sugang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.forename: Jiangjun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xian
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shao
authors.forename: Xianzhi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: Danzhen
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D001391:Azo Compounds / Q000528:radiation effects; D019817:Benzoic Acid / Q000528:radiation effects; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000528:radiation effects*; D052918:Environmental Restoration and Remediation / Q000379:methods*; D005708:Gallium / Q000737:chemistry*; D010782:Photolysis; D012235:Rhodamines / Q000528:radiation effects; D013056:Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet
chemical_list: D001391:Azo Compounds; D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D012235:Rhodamines; C038863:gallium oxide; C100258:methyl orange; D019817:Benzoic Acid; D005708:Gallium; C029773:rhodamine B