Abstract
? 2022 Elsevier B.V.Herein, innovative visible-light-driven nano-photocatalysts for accelerated-activation of H2O2 and persulfate (PS) are explored towards degradation of ionic-dyes from wastewater. Highly-defective yttria-layers (D-Y2O3) are customized and used for stabilization of ZnO and Sm-doped ZnO (Sm-ZnO) nanoparticles. Comparing to ZnO@D-Y2O3, Sm-ZnO@D-Y2O3 nanocomposite possesses advanced surface-area and porosity with significant surface-heterogeneity, elevated negatively-charged nanoparticles (ζav = ?36.3 mV), large populations of oxygen vacancies, and enhanced visible-light absorptivity. PS-activation over visible-light-driven Sm-ZnO@D-Y2O3 photocatalyst (Sm-ZnO@D-Y2O3/PS/Vis) displays superior degradation efficiency (~100 %) of isosulfan-blue, Bismarck-brown, and methylene-blue dyes within 10 min, near-complete mineralization performance, and great cyclability. Such excellent photodegradability results from (i) synergistic combination of nanocomposite-PS-visible light, yielding highly-developed synergy-index values (SI = 3–20), (ii) abundant generation of reactive-oxidizing-species (SO4?-/h+/?OH synergistic ratio 1:1.8:1.9), and (iii) facilitated transference of photoexcited-electrons across oxygen vacancies in yttria-moiety, prohibiting electron-hole pairs recombination. Hence, Sm-ZnO@D-Y2O3/PS/Vis system is an extraordinarily candidate for complete destruction of organic-pollutants via newly photocatalytic-mechanism, whatever it treats it degrades.
NSTL
Elsevier