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AIE-based UiO-66/TiO2:fast response toluene detection and photocatalytic degradation

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Abstract

At present, it is difficult to realize an effective integration of both the detection and removal of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Herein, we propose a two-step strategy to design a new type of heterostructure photocatalyst UiO-66-TBPE/TiO2 with the desired interfacial compatibility based on aggregation-induced luminescence, which possesses excellent sensing and photocatalytic degradation performance for toluene. This strategy effectively overcomes the aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) effect and the transmission blocking of photogenerated electrons, and improves the fluorescence efficiency and electron–hole separation efficiency. In addition, the desired interface compatibility and hollow structure of UiO-66-TBPE/TiO2 accelerate the adsorption and transfer of targets and shorten the path of “adsorption–sensing–catalysis.” Thence, UiO-66-TBPE/TiO2 exhibits efficient and fast fluorescence sensing and the deeper sensing mechanism of toluene has explained by a combination of modern characterization techniques and computer simulation. More interestingly, a linear relationship is observed between the Δ fluorescence intensity in sensing performance and the degradation rate in degradation performance, providing a pathway to replace the complex method of degradation by simple fluorescence.

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Acknowledgement

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 52073164) and the Special Scientific Research Program Founded by Shaanxi Provincial Education Department (No. 19JK0150). Thanks to the computer software simulation provided by Northwestern Polytechnical University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, Xi’an, 710021, Shaanxi Province, People’s Republic of China

    Fan Yang

  2. College of Bioresources Chemical and Materials Engineering, Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, Xi’an, 710021, Shaanxi Province, People’s Republic of China

    Jianzhong Ma

  3. Xi’an Key Laboratory of Green Chemicals and Functional Materials, Xi’an, 710021, People’s Republic of China

    Jianzhong Ma

  4. Shaanxi Collaborative Innovation Center of Industrial Auxiliary Chemistry and Technology, Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, Xi’an, 710021, Shaanxi Province, People’s Republic of China

    Qian Zhu

  5. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 117574, Singapore

    John Wang

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  1. Fan Yang
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Contributions

Fan Yang was responsible for methodology, validation, formal analysis, investigation, writing—original data curation and visualization. JianZhong Ma contributed to reviewing and editing, project administration, funding acquisition and resources. Qian Zhu and John Wang were involved in reviewing and editing.

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Correspondence to Jianzhong Ma or Qian Zhu.

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Yang, F., Ma, J., Zhu, Q. et al. AIE-based UiO-66/TiO2:fast response toluene detection and photocatalytic degradation. J Mater Sci 59, 12384–12399 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-024-09901-0

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