Precursor- and waste-free synthesis of spark-ablated nanoparticles with enhanced photocatalytic activity and stability towards airborne organic pollutant degradation
Abstract
Photocatalyst synthesis typically involves multiple steps, expensive precursors, and solvents. In contrast, spark ablation offers a simple process of electrical discharges in a gap between two electrodes made from a desirable material. This enables a precursor- and waste-free generation of pure metal oxide nanoparticles or mixtures of various compositions. This study presents a two-step method for the production of photocatalytic filters with deposited airborne MnOₓ, TiO₂, and ZnO nanoparticles using spark ablation and calcination processes. The resulting MnOₓ and TiO₂ filters demonstrated almost twice the activity with outstanding performance stability, as compared to sol–gel MnO₂ and commercial TiO₂. The introduced method is not only simple, precursor- and waste-free, and leads to superior performance for the case studied, but it also has future potential due to its versatility. It can easily produce mixed and doped materials with further improved properties, making it an interesting avenue for future research. Show more
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https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000650529Publication status
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Journal / series
Environmental Science: NanoPublisher
Royal Society of ChemistryOrganisational unit
03887 - Wang, Jing / Wang, Jing
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