Laser-assisted photocatalysed degradation of pollutants using semiconductors in electronic contact with gold nanoparticles

Zeinab Chehadi (1) , Joumana Toufaily (2) , Jean-Sébastien Girardon (3) , Mickael Capron (3) , Franck Dumeignil (3) , Tayssir Hamieh (2) , Renaud Bachelot (4) , Safi Jradi (4)

1 LU - Lebanese University [Beirut]
2 MCEMA - Laboratoire de Matériaux, Catalyse, Environnement et Méthodes Analytiques
3 UCCS - Unité de Catalyse et Chimie du Solide - UMR 8181
4 LNIO - Laboratoire de Nanotechnologie et d'Instrumentation Optique

In this work we investigate the coupling between Plasmonic gold nanostructures and catalyst supports such as TiO2, ZnO and Al2O3 in order to study the photocatalytic degradation of Bisphenol A (BPA) under visible laser excitation. The experimental investigations have shown extremely fast and complete photodegradation of organic pollutants in water. The influence of photocatalyst band gap on the catalytic activity was investigated as well. Au/TiO2 catalyst showed the fastest degradation of BPA due to efficient electron transfer from excited noble metal Gold nanoparticles to the semiconductor.

Domains: Optics / Photonic

Zeinab Chehadi, Joumana Toufaily, Jean-Sébastien Girardon, Mickael Capron, Franck Dumeignil, et al.. Laser-assisted photocatalysed degradation of pollutants using semiconductors in electronic contact with gold nanoparticles. Nanotech Tunisia 2015, Apr 2015, Hammamet, Tunisia. ⟨hal-02499146⟩