Xiaoyang
Pan
*a,
Wen-Jie
Chen
a,
Huizhen
Cai
a,
Hui
Li
a,
Xue jiao
Sun
a,
Bo
Weng
*b and
Zhiguo
Yi
*c
aCollege of Chemistry and Materials, Quanzhou Normal University, Quanzhou, 362000, China. E-mail: xypan@qztc.edu.cn
bcMACS, Department of Microbial and Molecular Systems, KU Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200F, 3001 Leuven, Belgium. E-mail: bo.weng@kuleuven.be
cState Key Lab of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, China. E-mail: zhiguo@mail.sic.ac.cn
First published on 14th September 2020
A defect pyrochlore-type Sn1.06Nb2O5.59F0.97 (SnNbOF) nano-octahedron is used as a redox-active support for fabricating Au@SnO2 core–shell and SnO2 quantum dots at room temperature without the use of organic species or foreign reducing reagents. Gold (Au) and SnO2 components were obtained through an in situ redox reaction between the HAuCl4 and reductive Sn2+ ions incorporated in SnNbOF. The composition and morphology of the resulting nanocomposites (denoted as Au–SnNbOF) could be controlled by adjusting the Au/SnNbOF ratio. The Au–SnNbOF nanocomposites exhibited efficient photoactivities for methyl orange (MO) degradation under the visible light irradiation (λ > 420 nm), during which the MO was almost completely degraded within 8 min. Among all the samples, the 5wt% Au–SnNbOF nanocomposite had the highest rate constant (0.43 min−1), which was 40 times higher than that of the blank SnNbOF.
Over the years, a variety of Au-metal oxide nanocomposites have been fabricated to prevent Au from aggregation, and increased efforts have been put into the controllable synthesis of Au@metal oxide core–shell nanostructures.6,13–20 Encapsulation of the metal oxide shell results in the Au nanoparticles exhibiting excellent performance and prevents them from agglomeration, even under high-temperature treatment.21,22 However, the synthetic methods largely rely on a complicated and environmentally unfriendly procedure, which leads to the high cost of the product and environmental pollution.6,13–20,23,24 In view of this, it is crucial to develop a simple and green strategy for the synthesis of Au@metal oxide core–shell nanostructures.
Clearly, most of the current methods used for the synthesis of metal oxide-coated Au nanostructures require foreign reducing agents and/or organic surfactants.1,5,25–27 As a result, impurities are inevitably introduced, which is harmful to the performance of the Au@metal oxide.1 Recently, we reported a simple and green method for synthesizing the supported noble metal nanoparticles on defect pyrochlore-type Sn1.06Nb2O5.59F0.97 (SnNbOF) without the use of organic species or foreign reducing agents.28 On the basis of this method, we herein report the use of SnNbOF as a redox-active support for the synthesis of Au@SnO2 core–shell nanostructures. The successful construction of a core–shell structure is realized through an in situ redox reaction between HAuCl4 and reductive SnNbOF in an aqueous solution. Moreover, tin(IV) oxide (SnO2) quantum dots are formed simultaneously on the surface of the SnNbOF. The resulting nanocomposites demonstrate efficient photoactivities for methyl orange (MO) degradation.
In comparison with previous reports on the synthesis of core–shell nanostructures (Table S1†), our strategy has the following clear advantages: (i) the synthetic procedure involves one single step and requires no organic structure-directing agents; (ii) neither foreign reducing agents nor thermal treatment is necessary for the growth of the Au core and the SnO2 shell; (iii) SnNbOF is used as a multifunctional support-reducing agent for the Au ions, as a substrate for the growth of Au@SnO2 composites and, most importantly, as a structure-directing agent for a controllable synthesis of the core–shell nanostructure and (iv) the 5 wt% Au–SnNbOF nanocomposite demonstrates superior photoactivity for MO degradation, as compared with most of the photocatalysts in previous reports.29–36
In terms of the defect pyrochlore SnNbOF, the characteristic structural feature is a three-dimensional framework formed by octahedral NbO6 units (Fig. 2). The Sn2+ ions can move easily in the interstitial cavities within the framework.28 Based on these unique properties, SnNbOF could be used as a reactive support for the direct growth of Au nanoparticles via an in situ redox reaction between reductive Sn2+ and HAuCl4 in an aqueous solution (Fig. 2). The synthetic procedure was conducted at room temperature without the use of foreign reductants or organic surfactants.
The variation of the concentration of HAuCl4 precursors can also modulate the composition and morphology of the final product. During the synthetic procedure, a large excess of SnNbOF was used as the precursor. Therefore, the number of Au nanoparticles and Sn4+ ions formed (Fig. 2) depended on the Au/SnNbOF ratio. At a low ratio of 0.5 wt%, the number of Sn4+ ions were correspondingly low and the hydrolysis reaction of the ions barely occurred. As a result, very little SnO2 was formed during the synthesis. Meanwhile, at relatively high ratios (≥3 wt%), the concentration of Sn4+ ions was enough to induce the hydrolysis reaction. The as-formed SnO2 was decorated onto the surface of the Au nanoparticles and the SnNbOF. The Au@SnO2 core–shell nanostructure and the SnO2 quantum dots were subsequently obtained.
The TEM observations revealed that it is possible to modulate the morphology of the nanocomposite by simply varying the Au/SnNbOF ratios (Fig. 3). For the 0.5 wt% Au-loaded SnNbOF, the resulting nanocomposite (0.5 wt% Au–SnNbOF) was composed of bare Au nanoparticles supported on the SnNbOF surface (Fig. 3a–c). No obvious SnO2 particles were observed on the surface of the Au particles. The increase in Au content resulted in a typical core–shell structure, in which an Au core was coated with the SnO2 shell (Fig. 3d–l, S3a and b†). As a result, we can obtain a surface support (0.5 wt% Au–SnNbOF) and a core–shell structure (3 wt% Au–SnNbOF, 5 wt% Au–SnNbOF and 10 wt% Au–SnNbOF), respectively.
Fig. 3 TEM and HRTEM images of 0.5 wt% Au–SnNbOF (a–c), 3 wt% Au–SnNbOF (d–f), 5 wt% Au–SnNbOF (g–i) and 10 wt% Au–SnNbOF (j–l). |
To further investigate the core–shell structure, 10 wt% Au–SnNbOF was chosen and the nature of the nanostructure unravelled via high-angle annular dark-field scanning (HAADF-STEM) and elemental mapping analysis. Fig. 4a and b show the TEM images of the Au@SnO2 core–shell structure. The lattice spacings measured in the HRTEM image were 0.235 nm in the core and 0.334 nm in the shell (Fig. 4c), which can be ascribed to the (111) facet of the Au and the (110) plane of the SnO2, respectively.6 The HAADF-STEM image (Fig. 4d) clearly revealed that the nanocomposite had a core–shell structure, whereas the elemental mapping analysis further demonstrated that the element Au was distributed only in the core and that the Sn and O elements of the SnO2 were homogenously distributed throughout the whole particle (Fig. 4e–g). These results suggest that the Au cores were surrounded by SnO2 shells. The energy-dispersive X-ray analysis for the 10 wt% Au–SnNbOF nanocomposites also confirmed the compositions of the Au, Sn, Nb, O and F elements (Fig. 4h), suggesting that the Au@SnO2 composite was decorated on the SnNbOF surface. The XPS analysis revealed that Au in 10 wt% Au–SnNbOF is in the metallic state (Fig. S4a†).28 The coexistence of Sn(II) and Sn(IV) in 10 wt% Au–SnNbOF suggests that some of the Sn(II) ions in SnNbOF were oxidized by the Au ions (Fig. S4b†). These results indicate that the Au and SnO2 has been successfully decorated on the surface of SnNbOF.
Fig. 4 The characterizations of 10 wt% Au–SnNbOF. (a and b) TEM image, (c) HRTEM image, (d) HAADF-STEM image, (e–g) elemental mapping analysis and (h) EDX analysis. |
Besides the Au@SnO2 core–shell nanostructure, we also found that the surfaces of the SnNbOF nano-octahedron of the Au–SnNbOF (Au ≥ 3 wt%) were coarse (Fig. S5†) compared with the smooth surface of the blank SnNbOF (Fig. 1c) and the 0.5 wt% Au–SnNbOF (Fig. S6†). The magnified TEM image demonstrates that the SnNbOF surface of the 3 wt% Au–SnNbOF was composed of crystallized SnO2 quantum dots with ca. 3–4 nm diameters (Fig. S5a and b†). The size of the SnO2 dots increased with an increase in Au content (Fig. S5c–f†).
Fig. 5a shows the XRD patterns of the SnNbOF and Au–SnNbOF nanocomposites. It is clear that all the Au–SnNbOF nanocomposites, as well as blank SnNbOF, exhibited similar XRD patterns. The main diffraction peaks of all the samples can be attributed to the face-centered cubic crystals of pyrochlore compounds.28 The characteristic peaks of SnO2 (101)38 and Au (111)39–42 were also observed at 36.9° and 38.2°, respectively, when the weight ratio of Au was greater than or equal to 3 wt% (Fig. 5b). In contrast, 0.5 wt% Au–SnNbOF exhibited no XRD peaks of SnO2 and Au (Fig. 5b).
Fig. 5 (a) XRD patterns and (b) enlarged XRD patterns of the SnNbOF and the Au–SnNbOF nanocomposites. |
On comparing the XRD patterns, increasing the Au content was found to result in the following: the intensity of the XRD peaks of the (111) and (311) marked in Fig. 5a progressively increased, and the reflections shifted towards lower 2θ angles (Fig. 5b). These phenomena can almost certainly be ascribed to the ion exchange reaction between the Sn2+ ions of SnNbOF and the H+ ions of HAuCl4, which has also been reported in a previous study.43 In addition, we also found that intensities of other diffraction peaks of SnNbOF such as (222) and (400) peaks decreased after Au decoration. These results can be attributed to the fact that the relative content of the SnNbOF in Au–SnNbOF nanocomposites decreased when increase the Au content.
The optical properties of the SnNbOF and Au–SnNbOF nanocomposites were investigated via UV-vis DRS (Fig. S7†). The blank SnNbOF had visible light absorption capability because of its narrow bandgap (2.33 eV), as reflected in Fig. S8a, b and S9.†28 Following Au decoration, a clear absorption peak appeared at ca. 550 nm, which can be ascribed to the surface plasmon resonance of Au nanoparticles (Fig. S7†).44 In addition, it is also found that the introduction of different Au weight ratios had a significant influence on the optical property of the samples. As shown in Fig. S7,† the absorption intensity within the range of 550–800 nm was enhanced by the increase in the Au weight ratio.
In terms of proof of concept, methyl orange (MO) photocatalytic degradation was selected as the probe reaction to demonstrate the application of the samples. As shown in Fig. 6a, the blank SnNbOF exhibited a moderate visible light photoactivity, which was higher than that of TiO2 (P25). Meanwhile, the Au–SnNbOF nanocomposites exhibited improved visible light photocatalytic activities than the blank SnNbOF. Among all the photocatalysts, the 5 wt% Au–SnNbOF nanocomposite had the highest rate constant (0.43 min−1, Fig. S10†), which was 40 times higher than that of the blank SnNbOF. Within 8 min, the MO was almost completely degraded under visible light irradiation, which significantly exceeded the performance of the SnNbOF. Moreover, the stability of the photocatalyst was also evaluated. As shown in Fig. S11,† following four cycles of photocatalytic reaction, the photocatalytic performance of the used 5 wt% Au–SnNbOF was similar to that of its fresh counterparts. In particular, the activity of the 5 wt% Au–SnNbOF was also compared with the known photocatalysts previously reported, with the photoactivity of the sample found to be superior to most of the reported photocatalysts (Table S2†).
A variety of joint characterization techniques were utilized to reveal the origin of the superior performance of Au–SnNbOF composites for MO degradation. First, the photocurrent response of the samples was measured under visible light irradiation. As shown in Fig. 6b, the photocurrent density obtained across the sample electrodes followed a sequence of 5 wt% Au–SnNbOF > 10 wt% Au–SnNbOF > 3 wt% Au–SnNbOF > 0.5 wt% Au–SnNbOF > SnNbOF. In addition, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) Nyquist plots have also been performed (Fig. S12†). The decoration of Au results in obvious decrease of the arc as compared to blank SnNbOF, indicating that the Au–SnNbOF nanocomposites have much smaller charge-transfer resistance than the SnNbOF.37 These results suggest a longer lifetime of charge carriers photogenerated over Au–SnNbOF composites than over blank SnNbOF.37 This is also supported by the photoluminescence (PL) analysis. As shown in Fig. S13,† the blank SnNbOF exhibits a broad emission peak around 550 nm, which is attributed to the charge recombination. The 5 wt% Au–SnNbOF nanocomposite exhibited obviously reduced intensity of the PL emission of SnNbOF, indicating the reduced charge carriers recombination of Au–SnNbOF nanocomposite in comparison to the blank SnNbOF. This can be ascribed to the fact that the decoration of Au and SnO2 on SnNbOF results in an improvement in the charge separation efficiency because of the matched energy band structure (Fig. S14†). Therefore, it would appear that the observed photoactivity sequence could be well correlated with the charge separation efficiency. The highest photoactivity of the 5 wt% Au–SnNbOF was in accordance with its highest charge separation efficiency. Notably, although 10 wt% Au–SnNbOF has the highest amount of Au, its charge separation efficiency is lower than that of 5 wt% Au–SnNbOF. This indicates that the Au amount is an important factor influencing the photoactivity of the sample. At low Au content, Au can act as separation centers and thus improve the photoactivities. However, as Au amount exceed optimum loading, they can act as charge recombination centers, which are detrimental to the photocatalytic efficiency.31
Second, we also investigated the influence of the effect of Au nanoparticles on the photoactivities of the samples. Generally, two main mechanisms are proposed to explain the enhanced photoactivity via Au nanoparticles, the first of which relates to the plasmon-excited charge transfer from the Au to the semiconductor and the second to the photoexcited electron transfer from the semiconductor to the Au. In the first mechanism, the Au nanoparticles are plasmon-excited under visible light irradiation, meaning the maximum contribution of the Au particles should occur at the strongest plasmon absorption. However, the rate constant of the 5 wt% Au–SnNbOF was very low at 550 nm (Fig. S15†). This indicates that the plasmonic effect of the Au particles was not the main contributor to the enhanced photoactivity. Moreover, the matched energy band structures of SnNbOF and Au are beneficial to the transfer of photo-induced electrons from SnNbOF to Au (Fig. S14†), which could improve the charge separation efficiency, as already revealed by the photocurrent analysis (Fig. 6b). Therefore, it can be stated that Au particles most likely serve as electron collectors to retard the charge recombination.
Finally, the surface area and the adsorption ability of the samples were also investigated. As displayed in Fig. 6c, the nitrogen (N2) adsorption–desorption isotherms of the SnNbOF and Au–SnNbOF nanocomposites exhibited type IV isotherms with a typical H3 hysteresis loop characteristic of mesoporous solids.45 It is clear from Table S3† that the Au–SnNbOF nanocomposites had larger surface areas than the blank SnNbOF. It is also clear that the surface area of the nanocomposites increased with the increase in Au weight ratio. This increased surface area resulted in enhancing the adsorption capacity of the Au–SnNbOF nanocomposites, as shown in Fig. 6d. The higher photoactivities of the Au–SnNbOF were in accordance with the higher surface area and adsorption capacity. Notably, although the 10 wt% Au–SnNbOF possessed the largest specific surface area and adsorption capacity, its photoactivity was lower than that of the 5 wt% Au–SnNbOF. These results suggest that the primary factor accounting for the photoactivity improvement of Au–SnNbOF nanocomposites cannot be attributed to the differences in specific surface area and the adsorption capacity of the samples; rather, it must be attributed to the improved charge separation efficiency and synergistic interactions among Au, SnO2 and SnNbOF.
To study the active radical species involved in the MO degradation, ESR analysis was performed using the 5 wt% Au–SnNbOF sample. Under visible light irradiation, the signal of superoxide radicals (O2−˙) could be clearly observed, as shown in Fig. S16.†46 However, no hydroxyl radicals were detected in the reaction system. These results indicate that O2−˙ were the primary radical species formed during the reaction. In view of this, the interaction of the O2−˙ with the reactants was further investigated. As shown in Fig. 6e, under the dark and air atmosphere conditions, no obvious signal was detected. However, when the reaction system was irradiated with visible light, a typical ESR O2−˙ signal emerged. After adding MO into the reactor, the O2−˙ signal almost disappeared, indicating that the O2−˙ were consumed during the photocatalytic reaction.
To get further insight into reaction mechanism for MO degradation, a series of blank/controlled experiments were performed. The blank experiments without catalyst or visible light irradiation show no degradation of MO, which confirms that the reaction is truly driven by a photocatalytic process. As displayed in Fig. 6f, with the addition of benzoquinone (BQ) as superoxide-scavenger,47 the photocatalytic reaction became remarkably inhibited. An equally clear inhibition phenomenon within the photocatalytic reaction was also observed when ammonium oxalate was added as hole scavenger.46 Moreover, the reaction rate underwent very little change after tert-butyl alcohol was added as the hydroxyl radical scavenger,46 which is consistent with the ESR result. These results indicate that both superoxide radicals and photogenerated holes are the active species for MO degradation.
Based on these results, a possible reaction mechanism is proposed. Under visible light irradiation, electron–hole pairs are generated from the SnNbOF. The photoexcited electrons are then transferred from the conduction band of the SnNbOF to the Au or SnO2 because of the matched energy band structure. Following this, they are captured by the molecular oxygen to form O2−˙. These active oxygen species are capable of oxidizing MO. Meanwhile, photogenerated holes, which have an anodic potential of 2.1 V vs. NHE, are incapable of oxidising H2O to form hydroxyl radicals (anodic potential: 2.8 V vs. NHE); rather, they directly participate in the MO degradation reaction.
Footnote |
† Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/d0ra06175a |
This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2020 |