The Ultrahigh Adsorption Capacity and Excellent Photocatalytic Degradation Activity of Mesoporous CuO with Novel Architecture
Jing Ni, Jianfei Lei, Zhaowu Wang, Lanlan Huang, Hang Zhu, Hai Liu, Fuqiang Hu, Ting Qu, Huiyu Yang, Haiyang Yang, Chunli Gong
Abstract
In this paper, mesoporous CuO with a novel architecture was synthesized through a conventional hydrothermal approach followed by a facile sintering procedure. HR-TEM analysis found that mesoporous CuO with an interconnected pore structure has exposed high-energy crystal planes of (002) and (200). Theoretical calculations indicated that the high-energy crystal planes have superior adsorption capacity for H+ ions, which is critical for the excellent adsorption and remarkable photocatalytic activity of the anionic dye. The adsorption capacity of CuO to methyl orange (MO) at 0.4 g/L was approximately 30% under adsorption equilibrium conditions. We propose a state-changing mechanism to analyze the synergy and mutual restraint relation among the catalyst CuO, H+ ions, dye and H2O2. According to this mechanism, the degradation rate of MO can be elevated 3.5 times only by regulating the MO ratio in three states.