Uniform formation and characterization of Au/TiO2 nanoparticles for electrokinetically assisted optofluidic reactors

초록

Research is being conducted on photocatalyst-based organic compound treatment processes for water purification to decompose wastewater efficiently. An optofluidic reactor based on TiO<inf>2</inf> photocatalysis and nanoelectrokinetics was presented recently to improve the efficacy of photocatalytic water purification. However, inefficient absorption of visible light by TiO<inf>2</inf> materials hinders the effective utilization of solar energy. To address this issue, the uniform formation and characterization of Au/TiO<inf>2</inf> nanoparticles for a plasmonic photocatalytic-based optofluidic platform are studied to improve photocatalytic reactivity in visible light. The present study uses UV irradiation and spray spraying for producing Au/TiO<inf>2</inf> NPs uniformly on microporous carbon fabric. Energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were used to assess the quality of the Au/TiO<inf>2</inf> NP-coated carbon fabric. Au NPs were uniformly obtained on the surface and inside the TiO<inf>2</inf> coating layer by UV irradiation-based photo-reduction, according to SEM and TEM investigation. The interaction of Au NPs, TiO<inf>2</inf> NPs, and carbon fabric (CF) to improve electron transport and charge separation on the photocatalyst surface is supported by XPS spectra. TEM and XRD analyses revealed that all TiO<inf>2</inf> components in the Au/TiO<inf>2</inf> coating layer consisted of anatase having high photocatalytic activity. After comparing the photocatalytic activity of TiO<inf>2</inf> and Au/TiO<inf>2</inf>-coated samples under solar-simulated light and a voltage of 3 V, it was found that the surface coated with Au NPs had a superior photocatalytic effect than the surface coated with only TiO<inf>2</inf>. © 2023, The Author(s).

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