Thermo-catalytic decomposition of formaldehyde: a novel approach to produce mesoporous ZnO for enhanced photocatalytic activities

A novel method, thermo-catalytic decomposition of formaldehyde, is used to synthesize mesoporous ZnO crystals with enhanced photocatalytic activities. The mechanism of the mesoporous formation is investigated by synthesizing a series of samples at various systems and characterizing them with FT-IR,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nanotechnology 2014-06, Vol.25 (25), p.255701-9
Main Authors: Lei, Jian F, Li, Li B, Du, Kai, Ni, Jing, Zhang, Shao F, Zhao, Ling Z
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Catalytic methods
Chemical synthesis methods
Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science
rheology
Crystals
Decomposition
Exact sciences and technology
Formaldehyde
Formations
Materials science
mesoporous materials
Methods of nanofabrication
Nanotechnology
Photocatalysis
photocatalyst
Physics
template
Titanium dioxide
Zinc oxide
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Summary:A novel method, thermo-catalytic decomposition of formaldehyde, is used to synthesize mesoporous ZnO crystals with enhanced photocatalytic activities. The mechanism of the mesoporous formation is investigated by synthesizing a series of samples at various systems and characterizing them with FT-IR, EDS, XRD, SEM, and TEM. The results show that formaldehyde can be adsorbed on the crystal planes of ZnO during the crystal growth and can then be catalytically decomposed into CO, CO2 and H2 during a sintering process. Because of the formation and the escape of these gases, which act as templates, the crystalline particles of ZnO are forced to rearrange consistently, and pores are formed in the internal crystal. Also, porous TiO2 crystals have been obtained via the same approach. Photocatalytic tests indicate that a porous ZnO crystal has higher activity than that of a nonporous one.
ISSN:0957-4484
1361-6528
DOI:10.1088/0957-4484/25/25/255701