title: Enhanced Catalytic Activity in Liquid-Exfoliated FeOCl Nanosheets as a Fenton-Like Catalyst.
abstract: A facile liquid-phase exfoliation method to prepare few-layer FeOCl nanosheets in acetonitrile by ultrasonication is reported. The detailed exfoliation mechanism and generated products were investigated by combining first-principle calculations and experimental approaches. The similar cleavage energies of FeOCl (340 mJ m(-2) ) and graphite (320 mJ m(-2) ) confirm the experimental exfoliation feasibility. As a Fenton reagent, FeOCl nanosheets showed outstanding properties in the catalytic degradation of phenol in water at room temperature, under neutral pH conditions, and with sunlight irradiation. Apart from the increased surface area of the nanosheets, the surface state change of the nanosheets also plays a key role in improving the catalytic performance. The changes of charge density, density of states (DOS), and valence state of Fe atoms in the exfoliated FeOCl nanosheets versus plates illustrated that surface atomistic relationships made the few-layer nanosheets higher activity, indicating the exfoliation process of the FeOCl nanosheets also brought about surface state changes.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, 250100, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, 250100, P. R. China.|National Engineering Research Center for Colloidal Materials, Shandong University, Jinan, 250100, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Xiu-Ling
authors.initials: XL
authors.lastname: Jiao
authors.affiliation: National Engineering Research Center for Colloidal Materials, Shandong University, Jinan, 250100, P. R. China. jiaoxl@sdu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yu-Guo
authors.initials: YG
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, 250100, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Fang-Fang
authors.initials: FF
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, 250100, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Ying-Ping
authors.initials: YP
authors.lastname: Pang
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, 250100, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Xin-Fu
authors.initials: XF
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, 250100, P. R. China. cdr@sdu.edu.cn.|National Engineering Research Center for Colloidal Materials, Shandong University, Jinan, 250100, P. R. China. cdr@sdu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Dai-Rong
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Chen
keywords: 2D nanosheets; FeOCl; adsorption; catalysts; density functional calculations