VOCs Photocatalytic Degradation By Oxidic Materials In Films. Achieving Enhanced Activity By Creating Heterostructures

In this work, different photoactive oxides (both binary and ternary) were synthesized and deposited as films, both singularly and as composites and photocatalytically tested towards the degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the gas phase. In particular, TiO2 and WO3 were selected as binary oxides, while copper vanadate (Cu2V2O7) was chosen as the ternary visible light active oxide. Colloidal syntheses performed under nitrogen pressure on Schlenk ramp were adopted to obtain both WO3 and Cu2V2O7 materials. The effects provided by the creation of heterojunctions on the final photocatalytic performance are investigated.