Biogenic C-doped titania templated by cyanobacteria for visible-light photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine B

• Published in: Journal of environmental sciences (China) 2014-05, Vol.26 (5), p.1195-1202
• Main Authors: He, Jiao, Zi, Guoli, Yan, Zhiying, Li, Yongli, Xie, Jiao, Duan, Deliang, Chen, Yongjuan, Wang, Jiaqiang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: C-doped; Cyanobacteria; Cyanobacteria - chemistry; Cyanobacteria - metabolism; C掺杂; Degradation; Fluorescent Dyes - chemistry; Light; Moisture content; Morphology; Photocatalysis; Photochemical Processes; Rhodamine; Rhodamines - chemistry; Strategy; titania; Titanium - chemistry; Titanium dioxide; visible-light; Water Pollutants, Chemical - chemistry; 二氧化钛光催化剂; 光催化降解; 可见光; 染料敏化太阳能电池; 模板化; 罗丹明B; 蓝藻
• ISSN: 1001-0742; 1878-7320
• DOI: 10.1016/S1001-0742(13)60475-1

Cyanobacteria, which occurred in eutrophic water harvest solar light to carry out photosynthesis with high efficiency. In this work, cyanobacteria （Microcystis sp.） were used as biotemplate to synthesize titania structure. The synthesized titania sample had similar morphology to that of the original template in spite of the fragile unicellular structures and extremely high water content of cyanobacterial cells. Incorporation of biogenic C, as well as the morphology inherited from biotemplate improved visible- light absorbance of the titania structure. The sample exhibited higher visible-light photocatalytic activity than commercial titania photocatalyst Degussa P25 for Rhodamine B （RhB） degradation. Compared with those C-doped titania photocatalysts prepared by other methods, cyanobacteria templated titania photocatalyst offer some potential for competitive advantages. The reported strategy opened up a new use for the cyanobacteria. It could also be used for titania in applications such as treatment of polluted water, dye-sensitized solar cells, or other regions.