Enhanced solar- photocatalytic activity for the simultaneous degradation and detoxification of multiple chlorophenols by embedding plasmonic Pt into TiO2/H3PW12O40 nanopore

Abstract A novel Pt-TiO2/H3PW12O40 film was fabricated, which showed a considerable nonselective degradation and detoxification efficiency towards multiple chlorophenols (CPs), owing to the enhanced yield and separation efficiency of photogenerated electrons and holes. Based on the Mott-Schottky analysis, the carrier density of as-prepared Pt-TiO2/H3PW12O40 film reached 9.72 × 1022 cm−1, which was higher than that of Pt-TiO2, TiO2/H3PW12O40, and TiO2. The outstanding properties were attributed to the SPR effect and the formation of electrons traps from Pt0 (which was well protected by the nanopores that were formed by Ti-O-W and Ti-O-P); and H3PW12O40 that can efficiently transport electrons via its self-generated redox cycle. Meanwhile, the Pt-TiO2/H3PW12O40 film considerably lowers ecological risks of multiple CPs because O2−, as the primary radicals, can largely avoid the generation of products with a quinoid structure. The degradation pathways of multiple CPs were similar to those of single CP because the same hydroxyl substitution intermediate products were detected during the degradation, all of which followed the first-order reaction kinetics. Moreover, the excellent recycling performance of the Pt-TiO2/H3PW12O40 film guaranteed the reduction in economic cost and risks of secondary pollution. Therefore, the Pt-TiO2/H3PW12O40 film showed a considerable application potential in the removal of organic contaminants in aqueous environments.