Hydrothermal synthesis of Ag-doped ZnO/sepiolite nanostructured material for enhanced photocatalytic activity.

This work is devoted to the development of Ag-ZnO/sepiolite photocatalysts as novel nanostructured materials by the immobilization of Ag-doped ZnO on the surface of fibrous clay. Herein, innovative Ag-ZnO/sepiolite photocatalysts were successfully prepared through a simple hydrothermal route using diverse Ag dopant concentrations (2 and 5%). Structural, morphological, and optical properties of the obtained photocatalysts were characterized by XRD, TEM, MEB, and DRS-UV-Vis spectroscopy.

Photoactive nanoarchitectures based on clays incorporating TiO and ZnO nanoparticles.

Thought as raw materials clay minerals are often disregarded in the development of advanced materials. However, clays of natural and synthetic origin constitute excellent platforms for developing nanostructured functional materials for numerous applications. They can be easily assembled to diverse types of nanoparticles provided with magnetic, electronic, photoactive or bioactive properties, allowing to overcome drawbacks of other types of substrates in the design of functional nanoarchitectures.

Organoclay hybrid materials as precursors of porous ZnO/silica-clay heterostructures for photocatalytic applications.

In this study, ZnO/SiO-clay heterostructures were successfully synthesized by a facile two-step process applied to two types of clays: montmorillonite layered silicate and sepiolite microfibrous clay mineral. In the first step, intermediate silica-organoclay hybrid heterostructures were prepared following a colloidal route based on the controlled hydrolysis of tetramethoxysilane in the presence of the starting organoclay. Later on, pre-formed ZnO nanoparticles (NP) dispersed in 2-propanol were incorporated under ultrasound irradiation to the silica-organoclay hybrid heterostructures dispersed in 2-propanol, and finally, the resulting solids were calcinated to eliminate the organic matter and to produce ZnO nanoparticles (NP) homogeneously assembled to the clay-SiO framework.