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Growth, Structure, and Photocatalytic Properties of Hierarchical V2O5–TiO2 Nanotube Arrays Obtained from the One-step Anodic Oxidation of Ti–V Alloys
by
María C. Nevárez-Martínez 1,2
, Paweł Mazierski 3,*, Marek P. Kobylański 3, Grażyna Szczepańska 4, Grzegorz Trykowski 4, Anna Malankowska 3, Magda Kozak 3, Patricio J. Espinoza-Montero 2 and Adriana Zaleska-Medynska 3,*
María C. Nevárez-Martínez 1,2, Paweł Mazierski 3,*, Marek P. Kobylański 3, Grażyna Szczepańska 4, Grzegorz Trykowski 4, Anna Malankowska 3, Magda Kozak 3, Patricio J. Espinoza-Montero 2 and Adriana Zaleska-Medynska 3,*
1
Facultad de Ingeniería Química y Agroindustria, Escuela Politécnica Nacional, Ladrón de Guevara E11-253, P.O. Box 17-01-2759, Quito 170525, Ecuador
2
Centro de Investigación y Control Ambiental “CICAM”, Departamento de Ingeniería Civil y Ambiental, Facultad de Ingeniería Civil y Ambiental, Escuela Politécnica Nacional, Ladrón de Guevara E11-253, P.O. Box 17-01-2759, Quito 170525, Ecuador
3
Department of Environmental Technology, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Gdansk, Gdansk 80-308, Poland
4
Faculty of Chemistry, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Torun 87-100, Poland
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editor: Pierre Pichat
Molecules 2017, 22(4), 580; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules22040580
Received: 29 January 2017 / Revised: 30 March 2017 / Accepted: 1 April 2017 / Published: 5 April 2017
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Photon-involving Purification of Water and Air)
V2O5-TiO2 mixed oxide nanotube (NT) layers were successfully prepared via the one-step anodization of Ti-V alloys. The obtained samples were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), UV-Vis absorption, photoluminescence spectroscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray diffraction (DRX), and micro-Raman spectroscopy. The effect of the applied voltage (30–50 V), vanadium content (5–15 wt %) in the alloy, and water content (2–10 vol %) in an ethylene glycol-based electrolyte was studied systematically to determine their influence on the morphology, and for the first-time, on the photocatalytic properties of these nanomaterials. The morphology of the samples varied from sponge-like to highly-organized nanotubular structures. The vanadium content in the alloy was found to have the highest influence on the morphology and the sample with the lowest vanadium content (5 wt %) exhibited the best auto-alignment and self-organization (length = 1 μm, diameter = 86 nm and wall thickness = 11 nm). Additionally, a probable growth mechanism of V2O5-TiO2 nanotubes (NTs) over the Ti-V alloys was presented. Toluene, in the gas phase, was effectively removed through photodegradation under visible light (LEDs, λmax = 465 nm) in the presence of the modified TiO2 nanostructures. The highest degradation value was 35% after 60 min of irradiation. V2O5 species were ascribed as the main structures responsible for the generation of photoactive e− and h+ under Vis light and a possible excitation mechanism was proposed.
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Keywords:
V2O5-TiO2 nanotubes; visible-light-driven photocatalysis; alloys; toluene degradation; air treatment
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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
MDPI and ACS Style
Nevárez-Martínez, M.C.; Mazierski, P.; Kobylański, M.P.; Szczepańska, G.; Trykowski, G.; Malankowska, A.; Kozak, M.; Espinoza-Montero, P.J.; Zaleska-Medynska, A. Growth, Structure, and Photocatalytic Properties of Hierarchical V2O5–TiO2 Nanotube Arrays Obtained from the One-step Anodic Oxidation of Ti–V Alloys. Molecules 2017, 22, 580.
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