New type of photoelectrode material that can be directly used to sterilize sunlight

Due to the continuous deterioration of the environment, there are a large number of pathogenic microorganisms in the water body, which poses a great threat to human health and life. Therefore, it is of great significance to develop a highly efficient and economical sterilization technology. Semiconductor photocatalytic technology is considered as one of the most promising technologies for water purification because of its low cost, environmental friendliness, and high efficiency and non-toxicity.

However, photocatalyst TiO2, which is the most widely used photocatalyst, can only have photocatalytic activity under the excitation of ultraviolet light that accounts for only about 5% of sunlight energy. Therefore, how to increase its absorption of visible light and its light quantum efficiency and directly utilize the cheap and readily available sunlight or fluorescent lamps for water sterilization has become a hot issue in related fields in recent years.

Dr. Nie Xin, a doctoral student at the Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and an adjunct researcher of the advisors An Taicheng and Li Guiying used a simple hydrothermal-calcination method to synthesize N-doped with visible light photocatalytic bactericidal activity using titanium and melamine as precursors. Hetero C polymer loaded TiO2 composite photoelectrode.

The results show that the main components of the composite electrode are C, Ti, O and a small amount of N. At the same time, the composite photoelectrode contains a large number of carboxyl, amino and hydroxyl groups, which can effectively enhance the N-doped C polymer and TiO2 The combination greatly promotes the absorption of visible light and its photoelectron transfer. The bactericidal test found that under the visible light irradiation, the composite photoelectrode has a fast photoelectrocatalytic killing effect on E. coli K-12, and can completely kill 50 mL 107 cfu/ in a killing and killing time within 30 minutes. mL concentration of E. coli K-12. The research results provide important theoretical and experimental basis for the development of new visible light catalysts and their application in environmental management, especially in the disinfection and disinfection of drinking water.