Oxygen-vacancy-rich phenanthroline/TiO2 nanocomposites: An integrated adsorption, detection and photocatalytic material for complex pollutants remediation

Abstract To address the challenge of treating complex pollutants containing heavy metals and organic compounds, a phenanthroline/TiO2 nanocomposite with rich oxygen vacancy defects was synthesized to integrate the functions of pollutant detection, adsorption, and photocatalytic degradation. The results showed that the nanocomposite could adsorb Cr3+ and the process could be transduced into a colorimetric signal for qualitative and quantitative detection. The adsorbed heavy metal also exhibited a synergistically enhanced photocatalytic degradation of a model organic pollutant under visible light. The simultaneous adsorption, detection, and photocatalysis could reduce the multifarious operations and high cost of traditional environmental remediation methods, indicating a strong application potential for the nanocomposite.