A novel ternary mica-titania@rGO composite pearlescent pigment for the photocatalytic degradation of gaseous acetaldehyde

• Published in: Chemical engineering journal (Lausanne, Switzerland : 1996) Vol. 396; p. 125312
• Main Authors: Fang, Xiangming, Lu, Guanhong, Mahmood, Asad, Wang, Yan, Wang, Xiao, Xie, Xiaofeng, Tang, Zhihong, Sun, Jing
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 15.09.2020
• Subjects: Flowing gaseous acetaldehyde; Graphene; Mica; Pearlescent pigment; Photocatalytic degradation; Photocatalytic degradation; Flowing gaseous acetaldehyde; Graphene; Pearlescent pigment; Mica
• ISSN: 1385-8947; 1873-3212
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cej.2020.125312

The novel MT@rGO composite has significantly enhanced photocatalytic degradation performance and unique silver sparkling luster effect. The MT@rGO pearlescent pigment composite is expected to coat on the surface of automobile to purify air. [Display omitted] •A novel ternary pearlescent composite is fabricated to photodegrade VOCs.•MT@rGO-0.1 composite shows enhanced photocatalytic activity and stability.•Superoxide radicals (·O2–) play a major role in the photodegradation.•The composite is expected to apply as car paint additive to purify air. The photocatalytic application of TiO2 is limited due to low light harvesting abilities in the whole solar spectrum and fast recombination of the photoinduced electron-hole pairs. Herein, we report a TiO2-based ternary composite photocatalyst (MT@rGO-x; x = 0.05–0.2) with a pearlescent color effect, which incorporates a mica reflection core and a rGO multifunctional shell as cocatalysts. The micro flake composites were synthesized by a facile precipitation route and applied first to photodegrade gaseous acetaldehyde. MT@rGO-0.1 composite has optimal performance, which is 2.5 times photodegradation efficiency and 3 times CO2 mineralization efficiency higher than those of pure TiO2. The enhanced photocatalytic performance of MT@rGO composite is associated with effectively improved light harvesting of TiO2 by mica reflection. The presence of rGO facilitates the separation of electron-hole pairs and pollutant absorption. In addition, the superoxide radical was proved as the decisive active species for the photodegradation of acetaldehyde by electron spin resonance analyses and radical quenching tests. Our MT@rGO photocatalyst is expected to be applied as a functional and decorative additive of car paint, which is subject to photodegradation due to air pollutants.