Study Of Synthesis And Photocatalytic Properties Of Cu/TiO₂/Organo-attapulgite Composites

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are very important air pollutants which derived principally from combustion of fuel, transportation, decorative materials and so on. They have caused various environmental problems and serious harm to human health. Acetone (C3H6O) and formaldehyde (CH2O) are two typical little molecular materials of VOCs which generated in the industry fields and decorative materials. In recent years, semiconductor mediated photocatalysis technology has become a popular technique that has great potential to control air pollutants. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) has casused extensive attention and has good prospects in application because of its excellent chemical and physical stability, strong oxidizing power and no secondary pollution characteristics. Many scholars have devoted themselves to study the improvement of photocatalytic efficiency and the cost saving of the TiO2photocatalysts.In this paper, Cu/TiO2/organo-attapulgite (CTOA) catalysts were designed and synthesized by a simple method. The as-prepared samples were characterized by XRD, FT-IR, TEM, SEM, BET and so on. XRD and SEM analysis showed that the structure of organo-attapulgite (OAT) has no obviously change compared with attapulgite (AT) and more fibers distribution on the OAT surface which could promote the combination between Cu/TiO2and the OAT. FT-IR analysis showed that additional peaks appeared on the OAT surface and the AT has been modified by CTAB successfully. XRD and TEM analysis showed that both anatase titanium dioxide and CuO exist in the CTOA catalysts. BET analysis showed that both micropores and mesopores structures formed in the CTOA catalysts.The photocatalytic activity of the CTOA catalysts was evaluated by degradation of acetone and formaldehyde in air under UV light irradiation. The results indicated that the CTOA catalysts showed good and stable catalytic abilities for the degradation of acetone and formaldehyde in air. The degradation of acetone reached90.32%in6h for the optimal sample, and the degradation of formaldehyde reached90%in2h. Compared with commercial TiO2, the CTOA catalysts showed better catalytic abilities. The mechanisms of degradation of acetone were also discussed. The modification of the AT could improve the hydrophobic of the AT surface and promote the formation of the micro-mesopores composite structure in the CTOA catalysts which were benefit to the degradation of acetone. The Cu species doped in the catalysts could capture and transfer of the photoexcited electrons on TiO2conduction band, which could increase the degradation of acetone.