Rational Management of Photons for Enhanced Photocatalysis in Structurally-Colored Nanoporous Anodic Alumina Photonic Crystals
Authors
Lim, Siew Yee
Law, Cheryl Suwen

Marković, Marijana

Marsal, Lluís F.

Voelcker, Nicolas H.

Abell, Andrew D.

Santos, Abel

Article (Accepted Version)

American Chemical Society
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
A comprehensive study on the engineering of titanium dioxide-functionalized nanoporous anodic alumina distributed Bragg reflectors (TiO2–NAA-DBRs) for photocatalysis enhanced by the “slow photon” effect is presented. The photocatalytic performance of these composite photonic crystals (PCs) is assessed by monitoring photodegradation of a variety of organic molecules with absorbance bands across the spectral regions. This study demonstrates that photocatalytic performance of TiO2–NAA-DBRs is enhanced by the “slow photon” effect when the edges of the PC’s photonic stopband (PSB) fall within the absorbance band of the organic molecules. The photocatalytic performance is significantly enhanced when the PSB’s red edge is in close proximity to the absorbance band of the organic molecules. Overall photocatalytic degradation is also dependent on the total pore length of the PC structure, charge of the organic molecules, percentage of vis–near-IR irradiation, and matrix complexity (i.e., interfe...ring ions and molecules) when the PC’s PSB is partially or entirely misaligned with respect to the absorbance band of the organic molecules. Finally, the real-life application of TiO2–NAA-DBRs to degrade pollutants such as pesticides in environmental matrices is demonstrated. This study provides new insights into the development of rationally engineered, high-performing, safe, and reusable photocatalyst systems.
Keywords:
photocatalysis / photonic crystals / slow photons / stopband / pulse anodizationSource:
ACS Applied Energy Materials, 2019, 2, 2, 1169-1184Publisher:
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
Projects:
- Australian Research Council (ARC) - Grant No. CE140100003
- School of Chemical Engineering, the University of Adelaide (DVCR “Research for Impact” initiative)
- Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing (IPAS)
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale BioPhotonics (CNBP)
- Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness Grant No. TEC2015-71324-R (MINECO/FEDER)
- Catalan authority Grant No. AGAUR 2017SGR1527
- ICREA Academia Award
Note:
- This is peer-reviewed version of the article: ACS Applied Energy Materials, 2019, 2, 2, 1169-1184, https://doi.org/10.1021/acsaem.8b01721
- http://cer.ihtm.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/2988
DOI: 10.1021/acsaem.8b01721
ISSN: 2574-0962