Facile one-step synthesis and enhanced photocatalytic activity of a WC/ferroelectric nanocomposite

Zhang, Man; Wang, Yaqiong; Liu, Jianguo; Thangamuthu, Madasamy; Yue, Yajun; Yan, Zhongna; Feng, Jingyu; Zhang, Dou; Zhang, Hongtao; Guan, Shaoliang; Titirici, Maria-Magdalena; Abrahams, Isaac; Tang, Junwang; Zhang, Zhen; Dunn, Steve; Yan, Haixue

Abstract

The development of noble-metal-free co-catalysts is seen as a viable strategy for improving the performance of semiconductor photocatalysts. Although the photocatalytic efficiency of ferroelectrics is typically low, it can be enhanced through the incorporation of a co-catalyst into nanocomposites. Here, we demonstrate the influence of ferroelectricity on the decolorization of rhodamine B under simulated solar light using RbBi2Ti2NbO10 and compared the performance with that of non-ferroelectric RbBi2Nb5O16. The decolorization rate for RbBi2Ti2NbO10 was 5 times greater than that of RbBi2Nb5O16. This behaviour can be explained in terms of ferroelectric polarization, which drives the separation of charge carriers. The photocatalytic activity of RbBi2Ti2NbO10 was further enhanced to over 30 times upon preparing a nanocomposite with tungsten carbide (WC) through high energy ball milling. This enhancement was attributed not only to the increased specific surface area, but also to the incorporated WC co-catalyst, which also serves as a source of plasmonic hot electrons and extends the photocatalytic activity into the visible light range. The WC/RbBi2Ti2NbO10 nanocomposite shows interesting water oxidation properties and evolves O2 with a rate of 68.5 μmol h−1 g−1 and a quantum yield of 3% at 420 nm. This work demonstrates a simple route for preparing WC containing nano-ferroelectric composites for solar energy conversion applications.

Citation

Zhang, M., Wang, Y., Liu, J., Thangamuthu, M., Yue, Y., Yan, Z., Feng, J., Zhang, D., Zhang, H., Guan, S., Titirici, M.-M., Abrahams, I., Tang, J., Zhang, Z., Dunn, S., & Yan, H. (2021). Facile one-step synthesis and enhanced photocatalytic activity of a WC/ferroelectric nanocomposite. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 9(40), 2693–23298. https://doi.org/10.1039/d1ta04131b

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 12, 2021
• Publication Date: 2021
• Deposit Date: Oct 28, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 13, 2021
• Journal: Journal of Materials Chemistry A
• Print ISSN: 2050-7488
• Electronic ISSN: 2050-7496
• Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 9
• Issue: 40
• Pages: 2693–23298
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/d1ta04131b
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/23005869
• Publisher URL: https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2021/ta/d1ta04131b