A facile controllable preparation of highly porous carbon foam and its application in photocatalysis. (February 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wang, Tianwei; Zhu, Chenyu; Song, Lixin; Du, Pingfan; Yang, Yefeng; Xiong, Jie
• Is Part Of: Materials research bulletin. Volume 122(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-02
• Subjects: Carbon foam -- Starch/PVP ratio -- ZnO -- Photocatalysis; Materials -- Periodicals; Crystal growth -- Periodicals; Matériaux -- Périodiques; Cristaux -- Croissance -- Périodiques; Crystal growth; Materials; Periodicals; 620.11
• DOI: 10.1016/j.materresbull.2019.110697
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0025-5408

Abstract

Graphical abstract: In this work, the carbon foam with layered porous structure was fabricated by freeze-drying and carbonization from the mixture of starch and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP). The carbon foam having porosity of up to 92 % was prepared by adjusting the precursor ratio and the carbonization temperature. The carbon foam with high porosity was used as a promising catalyst carrier. After that, the carbon foam was employed as a carrier in photocatalysis. ZnO/carbon foam was prepared by hydrothermal method and used to degrade the Rhodamine B in water. As a result, the degradation efficiencies of Rhodamine B were about 98 % under both visible light and UV light. Highlights: The carbon foam was fabricated by freeze-drying and carbonization from the mixture of starch and PVP. The high porosity of Starch/PVP (1.33/1) derived carbon foam was 92% after carbonization at 1000 °C. The carbon foam loaded with ZnO NRs exhibited high degradation efficiencies of 98% under ultraviolet and visible light. Abstract: In this work, the carbon foam with layered porous structure was fabricated by freeze-drying and carbonization from the mixture of starch and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP). Notably, the mass ratio of Starch/PVP and the carbonization temperature had great influences on the morphology and microstructure of the carbon foam. In addition, the porosity and carbon yield of the carbon foam increased as the proportion of starch. And when the carbonization temperature increased from 600 °C to 1000 °C, the porosity of the foamed carbon increased from 87.45 % to 92 %, and the carbon yield of the carbon foam decreased from 25.09 % to 19.98 %. To explore the application of carbon foam, the carbon foam loaded with ZnO nanorods (ZnO/CF) was fabricated and employed as photocatalyst. The degradation efficiencies of Rhodamine B (RhB) were about 98% under the ultraviolet light and visible light, respectively. This implied that the carbon foam may have a broad application prospect in photocatalysis.