Rare earth(Gd,La) co-doped ZnO nanoflowers for direct sunlight driven photocatalytic activity

In this work Gd/La@ZnO nanoflower photocatalyst was successfully synthesized by a co-precipitation method and applied for rhodamine B(Rh B) and tetracycline(TCN) degradation under direct sunlight irradiation.The doping of rare earth elements extends the optical absorption wavelength of ZnO from UV region(390 nm) to visible-light region(401 nm).In addition,the co-doped ZnO nanoflower exhibits a lower charge recombination efficiency which was confirmed by photoluminescence emission analysis.Moreover,the co-doped ZnO nanoflower exhibits the maximum degradation efficiency of 91% for Rh B and 74% for TCN under sunlight irradiation.The calculated synergistic index of co-doped ZnO is higher than that of the pure ZnO.Reactive radicals’ production was confirmed by terephthalic acid(TA) and nitro-blue tetrazolium(NBT) tests.The holes and hydroxyl(·OH) radicals play the major role in degradation reaction and it was confirmed by scavenger’s test.Moreover,the recycling test confirms the stability of the photocatalyst.

Hydrothermal synthesis of hierarchical SnO_(2)nanomaterials for high-efficiency detection of pesticide residue

Acephate pesticide contamination in agricultural production has caused serious human health problems.Metal oxide semiconductor(MOS)gas sensor can be used as a portable and promising alternative tool for efficiently detection of acephate.In this study,hierarchical assembled SnO_(2)nanosphere,SnO_(2)hollow nanosphere and SnO_2 nanoflower were synthesized respectively as high efficiency sensing materials to build rapid and selective acephate pesticide residues sensors.The morphologies of different SnO_(2)3 D nanostructures were characterized by various material characterization technology.The sensitive performance test results of the 3 D SnO_(2)nanomaterials towards acephate show that hollow nanosphere SnO_(2)based sensor displayed preferable sensitivity,selectivity,and rapid response(9 s)properties toward acephate at the optimal working temperature(300℃).This SnO_(2)hollow nanosphere based gas sensor represents a useful tool for simple and highly effective monitoring of acephate pesticide residues in food and environment.According to the characterization results,particularly Brunauer-Emmett-Teller(BET)and Ultraviolet-Visible Spectroscopy(UV-vis),the obvious and fast response can be attributed to the mesoporous hollow nanosphere structure and appropriate band gap of SnO_2 hollow nanosphere.

One-dimensional nanochains consisting of magnetic core and mesoporous aluminosilicate for use as efficient nanocatalysts

Magnetic assembly at the nanoscale level brings potential possibilities in obtaining novel delicate nanostructures with unique physical, photonic or electronic properties. Interface surfactant micelle-directed assembly strategy holds great promising in fabricating ordered mesoporous materials with multifunctionality and pore parameter tunability. Combing these, herein, one-dimensional (1D) nanochains with well-aligned silica-coated magnetic particles as core and mesoporous aluminosilicate as shell are rational fabricated for the first time through magnetic field induced interface coassembly in biliquid system followed by the incorporation of Al species via in-situ chemical modification and transformation strategy. The obtained magnetic mesoporous aluminosilicate nanochains (MMAS-NCs) possess well-defined core-shell-shell sandwich nanostructure, tunable perpendicular mesopore channels in the shell (2.7–7.6 nm), high surface area (359 m^(2)·g^(-1)), abundant acidic sites, and superparamagnetism with a magnetization saturation of 13.8 emu·g^(-1). Thanks to the unique properties, the MMAS-NCs exhibit excellent performance in acting as magnetically recyclable superior solid acid catalysts and nanostirrers with high conversion of over 96.8%, selectivity of 95.0% in the deprotection reaction of benzaldehyde dimethylacetal to benzaldehyde. Moreover, MMAS-NCs exhibit an interesting pore size effect on the catalytic activity, namely, in the pore size range of 2–8 nm, the catalysts with larger pores show significantly enhanced catalytic activity due to the balanced mass transport and density of surface active sites.