Synergetic effect between adsorption and photodegradation on nanostructured TiO2/activated carbon fiber felt porous composites for toluene removal.
The low quantum efficiency and limited adsorption efficiency of TiO2makes it only fit for the removal of VOCs with low concentrations. Herein, we for the first time fabricated nanostructured TiO2/activated carbon fiber felt (TiO2/ACFF) porous composites by the in situ deposition of TiO2microspheres on the carbon fibers in ACFF. Interestingly, the TiO2microspheres exhibit hierarchical nanostructures constructed by nanocrystals as building blocks. The TiO2/ACFF porous composites possess excellent adsorption and photodegradation properties for toluene because of the synergetic effects between the nanostructured TiO2and ACFF. The adsorption efficiencies of the TiO2/ACFF porous composites reach approximately 98% at the toluene concentration (<1150ppm) and approximately 77% even at the high concentration of 6900ppm. Moreover, the ACFF in the TiO2/ACFF porous composites significantly enhances photocatalytic property for toluene by hindering the recombination of electron-hole pairs, reducing the TiO2band gap energy (Eg) to 2.95eV and accelerating toluene adsorption. At the toluene concentrations of 230ppm and 460ppm, the photocatalytic oxidation efficiency of toluene into CO2arrives at 100% and 81.5%, respectively. Therefore, the TiO2/ACFF porous composites with synergetic adsorption and photocatalytic activities have great potentials for toluene removal.
The Education Ministry Key Lab of Resource Chemistry and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Functional Materials, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai 200234, China.
Min
M
Li
The Education Ministry Key Lab of Resource Chemistry and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Functional Materials, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai 200234, China.
Bin
B
Lu
The Education Ministry Key Lab of Resource Chemistry and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Functional Materials, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai 200234, China.
Qin-Fei
QF
Ke
The Education Ministry Key Lab of Resource Chemistry and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Functional Materials, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai 200234, China.
Ya-Jun
YJ
Guo
The Education Ministry Key Lab of Resource Chemistry and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Functional Materials, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai 200234, China. Electronic address: ypguo@shnu.edu.cn.
Ya-Ping
YP
Guo
Activated carbon fiber felt; Adsorption; Nanostructured TiO(2); Photodegradation