Bi/Ti-phenolic network induced biomimetic synthesis of mesoporous hierarchical bimetallic hybrid nanocatalysts with enhanced visible-light photocatalytic performance

• Published in: Colloids and surfaces. A, Physicochemical and engineering aspects Physicochemical and engineering aspects, 2021-11, Vol.629, p.127518, Article 127518
• Main Authors: Xiao, Gao, Yin, Yixia, Zheng, Weishi, Dai, Manna, Afewerki, Samson, Chen, Anqi, Zhang, Jin, Zhang, Yanbo, Zhang, Weixia, Zhang, Yu Shrike
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bimetallic hybrid nanofiber; Biomass; Hierarchical structure; Metal−phenolic networks; Photocatalytic
• ISSN: 0927-7757; 1873-4359
• DOI: 10.1016/j.colsurfa.2021.127518

Biomass-templated biomimetic mineralization has recently emerged as a readily scalable method for the fabrication of mesoporous metal oxides due to the wide availability of the templates and their delicate hierarchical porous nanostructures. However, the selective ionic interactions of biomass-derived templates limit the possible chemical compositions of the desired products. Polyphenols can potentially introduce more general ionic adsorption to biomass-derived templates through the self-assembly of metal-phenolic networks (MPNs), leading to successful synthesis of a much broader range of mesoporous materials. As an illustration of this strategy, we designed a novel method for the fabrication of hierarchical mesoporous bimetallic hybrid nanocatalysts through calcination of biomass collagen-templated bimetallic MPNs. The resultant Bi/Ti bimetallic hybrid nanocatalysts inherited the hierarchical mesostructures of their collagen templates and showed excellent photocatalytic performance in the visible-light region (420−700 nm), which was consistent with the theoretical calculations using the first-principles density function theory. This simple and low-cost MPN-based approach possibly provides a universal platform for stable mineralization of biomass templates, paving the avenue towards a wide range of potential applications in environmental-friendly synthesis of mesoporous metal oxide materials. A bimetallic bismuth/titanium-phenolic networks are applied to fabricate collagen fiber-derived ordered mesoporous hierarchical Bix/TiO2 nanofibers by using natural polyphenols (Tannic Acid) induced self-assembly strategy. Combining biomass-derived materials with a facile, cost-effective, and green strategy, this biomimetic-synthesized state-of-the-art green technological approach would open a broad sustainable platform toward the consecutive design of hierarchical porous materials with controllable multi-functional nanostructures. [Display omitted] •A versatile metal-phenolics networks (MPNs) coating strategy was developed for fabricating fibrous mesoporous metal oxides.•Biomass-derived hierarchical mesoporous materials with controllable multi-functional nanostructures was investigated.•The electron–hole separation mechanism in hierarchical meso-Bix/TiO2 nanofibers is verified by DFT calculations.