Title
Fuel-Free Light-Powered TiO2/Pt Janus Micromotors for Enhanced Nitroaromatic Explosives Degradation
Date Issued
05 July 2018
Access level
metadata only access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
University of Prague
Publisher(s)
American Chemical Society
Abstract
Nitroaromatic explosives such as 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (2,4,6-TNT) and 2,4-dinitrotoluene (2,4-DNT) are two common nitroaromatic compounds in ammunition. Their leakage leads to serious environmental pollution and threatens human health. It is important to remove or decompose them rapidly and efficiently. In this work, we present that light-powered TiO2/Pt Janus micromotors have high efficiency for the "on-the-fly" photocatalytic degradation of 2,4-DNT and 2,4,6-TNT in pure water under UV irradiation. The redox reactions, induced by photogenerated holes and electrons on the TiO2/Pt Janus micromotor surfaces, produce a local electric field that propels the micromotors as well as oxidative species that are able to photodegrade 2,4-DNT and 2,4,6-TNT. Furthermore, the moving TiO2/Pt Janus micromotors show an efficient degradation of nitroaromatic compounds as compared to the stationary ones thanks to the enhanced mixing and mass transfer in the solution by movement of these micromotors. Such fuel-free light-powered micromotors for explosive degradation are expected to find a way to environmental remediation and security applications.
Start page
22427
End page
22434
Volume
10
Issue
26
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
IngenierÃa de materiales
BioquÃmica, BiologÃa molecular
Subjects
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85049577889
PubMed ID
Source
ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
ISSN of the container
19448244
Sponsor(s)
This work was supported by the project Advanced Functional Nanorobots (reg. CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/15_003/0000444 financed by the EFRR). The authors acknowledge A*Star Grant SERC A1783c0005 (Singapore). L.K. acknowledges the Scholarship Fund from China Scholarship Council (CSC 201606950043).
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción CientÃfica
Scopus