Spatially Separated Molecular Activation Over Dual Sites in Sn‐Doped ZnGa <sub>2</sub> O <sub>4</sub> /SnO <sub>2</sub> Photocatalysts Toward Complete VOCs Mineralization
Photocatalysis holds great promise for air pollutant remediation; however, its efficiency is often limited by charge recombination and humidity interference. Herein, Sn-doped ZnGa<sub>2</sub>O<sub>4</sub> loaded SnO<sub>2</sub> nanoparticles (SZGO) is in situ constructed via a one-step hydrothermal method. The doped Sn atoms act as electron-trapping centers and form interfacial Sn─O channels between ZnGa<sub>2</sub>O<sub>4</sub> and SnO<sub>2</sub>, enabling directional electron migration. Hydrophilic ZnGa<sub>2</sub>O<sub>4</sub> domains selectively adsorb H<sub>2</sub>O, generating hydroxyl radicals (·OH) that facilitate aromatic ring cleavage, while electron-rich SnO<sub>2</sub> domains activate O<sub>2</sub> to produce superoxide (·O<sub>2</sub> <sup>-</sup>) and singlet oxygen (<sup>1</sup>O<sub>2</sub>), leading to complete degradation of carbonaceous intermediates. The optimized SZGO achieves nearly 100% toluene degradation and 99.2% mineralization efficiency, with excellent stability across a wide humidity range (0-100%) and over 12 continuous cycles (720 min). Additionally, SZGO demonstrates broad-spectrum reactivity toward other volatile organic compounds (VOCs), such as acetone and formaldehyde. This work offers a versatile design strategy that couples directional charge transport with site-specific molecular activation, providing new insights for the development of highly stable photocatalysts for environmental purification.
Authors
- Hao Ma (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3342-3099)
- Ruimei Fang
- Bin Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9292-6748)
- Behzad Rezaei (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0055-0486)
- Fan Dong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2890-9964)
- Xianli Hu
- Yuhan Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7546-3630)
- Ting Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9946-2867)
Institutions
- Chongqing Technology and Business University (CN)
- University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (CN)
- Isfahan University of Technology (IR)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Advanced Science
- Published
- 2025-08-22
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202509891
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Advanced Photocatalysis Techniques
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.36
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Natural Science Foundation of Chongqing