Supercritical CO 2 -assisted deposition of NiO on (101)-anatase-TiO 2 for efficient facet engineered photocatalysts

• Published in: New journal of chemistry Vol. 42; no. 23; pp. 18649 - 18658
• Main Authors: Kashiwaya, S., Aymonier, C., Majimel, J., Olivier, C., Klein, A., Jaegermann, W., Toupance, T.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 19.11.2018
• ISSN: 1144-0546; 1369-9261
• DOI: 10.1039/C8NJ04292F

NiO/(101)-anatase-TiO 2 heterostructure nanoparticles were synthesized by depositing NiO onto the (101) facet of anatase crystals via the supercritical fluid chemical deposition (SFCD) route. Thorough characterization experiments performed by various techniques (XRD, UV-Vis DRS, N 2 sorption, HR-TEM, EDX, and XPS) indicate that the SFCD method allowed a good dispersion of NiO onto the TiO 2 nanoparticles for NiO amounts below 2 wt%. Compared to pure TiO 2 , the 0.1–1 wt% NiO–TiO 2 nanocomposites showed enhanced photocatalytic properties for methylene blue (MB) and methyl orange (MO) decomposition under UV light irradiation, the 0.25 wt% NiO–TiO 2 system leading to the highest efficiencies. The photocatalytic properties were then rationalized in terms of the acidic properties and electronic structures of the NiO–TiO 2 nanocomposites. This higher photocatalytic activity was mainly related to the heterocontact at the interface of the NiO–TiO 2 crystallites and to the enhanced reaction rates at the NiO x surface.