Construction of single tungsten/copper atom oxide supported on the surface of TiO2 for the higher activity of electrocatalytic water splitting and photodegradation of organic pollutant. (February 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Selvakumar, Karuppaiah; Oh, Tae Hwan; Wang, Yueshuai; Arunpandian, Muthuraj; Swaminathan, Meenakshisundaram
• Is Part Of: Chemosphere. Volume 314(2023)
• Publication Date: 2023-02
• Subjects: Single metal atom oxide -- Tungsten copper -- Reduced graphene oxide -- Water splitting -- Electrocatalyst -- Photocatalyst; Pollution -- Periodicals; Pollution -- Physiological effect -- Periodicals; Environmental sciences -- Periodicals; Atmospheric chemistry -- Periodicals; 551.511
• DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.137694
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0045-6535

Abstract

Abstract: Intense studies are being carried out on single atom catalysts that exhibit remarkable activity and selectivity. To enhance their catalytic abilities, one must have a thorough understanding of the properties of the single metal atom active site and its dynamics in the working state. Herein, we report single metal atom oxide (SMAO) (metal: W/Cu) anchored on TiO2 -rGO nanomaterials (SMAO-ED-TiO2 -rGO) by simple sonication process. It is efficient for the electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and photocatalytic degradation of pharmaceutical pollutant. The uniform dispersion of the tungsten/copper metal atom oxide over a TiO2 -rGO materials is detected by high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy (HAADF-STEM). The SMAO-ED-TiO2 -rGO nanocatalyst has shown impressive HER/OER activity with an overpotential of 121/295 mV at (−)10 mA cm −2 current density and the low Tafel slope of 96/60.3 mV dec −1 in 1 M KOH solution. Further, SMAO-ED-TiO2 -rGO nanocatalyst was used for the photocatalytic degradation of ciprofloxacin (CF). After 60 min of UV light irradiation, the SMAO-ED-TiO2 -rGO nanocatalyst efficiently photodegraded 98.5% of CF while retaining its activity for five cycles. Superoxide radicals (O2 - ) are found to be the main reactive species required in the photodegradation of CF, according to scavenger study of the SMAO-ED-TiO2 -rGO nanocatalyst for CF degradation. Graphical abstract: Image 1 Highlights: Single metal atom oxide anchoring TiO2 -rGO was created by the sonication method. Single tungsten/copper atom oxides are anchored higher density on TiO2 surface. SMAO-ED-TiO2 -rGO demonstrate electrocatalytic HER and OER activity in 1 M KOH. UV light-active SMAO-ED-TiO2 -rGO effectively photodegraded the ciprofloxacin.