Study On Fabrication And Photocatalyticperformance Of Metal Oxide Nanomaterials

In this paper,metal oxide gel layer(TiO2 and ZnO and ZrO2) was deposited on the surface of nanofibers in cellulose material by natural cellulose substance(filter paper) as the template through the surface sol-gel method. After calcination toremove the filter templates and other organic residuum, functional metal oxide nanomaterials were obtained. These metal oxide nanomaterials faithfully inherits thehierarchicalmorphology and the complex network structure ofthe original filter paper template.Subsequently,the photocatalytic performance research on above three metal oxides nanomaterials have been studied.Finally,we have attempted to load precious metal silver nanoparticles on the surface of titanium dioxide and zinc oxide nanomaterials. The specific research results are as follows:(1)Poroustitania nanotubesare prepared through sol-gel methods by using natural cellulose substance filter paper andtriblock copolymer Pluronic P123 micelles as dual templates.Characterization results show that the obtained product ispure anatase phase and its microstructure faithfully inherits thehierarchicalmorphology and the complex network structure ofthe original filter paper template. Each individualtitania microfibre is composed of many fine nanotubes and lots of mesoporesare randomly distributed in the tube wall. The UV-Vis characterization indicates that the product exihibitsvery strong light absorption ability in the UV range.The photocatalytic activity for methyl orange dye degradation was testedunder UV irradiation,the result shows that the sampledisplays significantly high photocatalytic activity.The dyewas degradedbyup to 50% in 8minutes, and almost degraded completely at the time of 20 minutes.(2)Porouszinc oxidenanosheetsare prepared through sol-gel and chemical impregnation methods by using natural cellulose substance filter paperandPolyethylene glycol PEGas dual templates. Characterization results show that the obtained product ispure hexagonal wurtzite phase and its microstructurefaithfully inherits thehierarchicalmorphology and the complex network structure ofthe original filter paper template.However,each individualzinc oxide microfibre is composed of many nanosheets which aggregatedbyzinc oxide nanoparticles,and lots of mesoporesare also randomly distributed in the layer.The UVVis characterization indicates that the product exihibits strong light absorption ability in the UV range.The photocatalytic activity for methyl orange dye degradation was testedunder UV irradiation,the result shows thatthe sampledisplayshigh photocatalytic activity.The dyewas degradedbyup to 50% in 20 minutes, and almost degraded completely at the time of 80 minutes.(3)Porous zirconia nanotubesare prepared through sol-gel methods by using natural cellulose substance filter paper andtriblock copolymer Pluronic P123 micelles as dual templates.Characterization results show that the obtained product ispure tetragonal phase andits microstructurefaithfully inherits thehierarchicalmorphology and the complex network structure ofthe original filter paper template.Each individualtitania microfibre is composed of many fine nanotubes and lots of mesoporesare randomly distributed in the tube wall. The UV-Vis characterization indicates that the product exihibitsweak lightabsorption ability in the UV range.The photocatalytic activity for methyl orange dye degradation was testedunder UV irradiation,the result shows thatthe sampledisplaysweak photocatalytic activity.The dyewas degradedbyup to 50% in 60 minutes, and the subsequent photocatalytic efficiency is very low.Meanwhile,the sampleexihibits certain adsorptive capacity in the dark adsorptionwhich may be related to its high specific surface area.(4)Finally, We have attempted to load precious metals silver nanoparticles on the surface of titanium dioxide and zinc oxide nanomaterials through photochemical reduction method.Characterization results show that the precious metals silver nanoparticles have successfully load to the surface of metal oxide nanomaterials and the photochemical reduction process didn’t destroy the microscopic structure of the original product.