Bimetallic oxide composites with heterogeneous interfaces can generate asymmetric structures through the coordination of different metal cations with oxygen ions or vacancies. An asymmetric interface structure was constructed on CeMnxOy-001TiO2 nanocomposites by loading Ce and Mn dual-site oxides on anatase 001TiO2. Compared to single Ce or Mn oxide on 001TiO2, all Ce and Mn dual-site oxide composites exhibited significantly enhanced photothermocatalytic activity, which was attributed to the asymmetric structure facilitating the release and regeneration of interfacial lattice oxygen. Notably, the photothermocatalytic performance of CMT-B was 3. 72 and 2. 34 times higher than that of CT and MT, surpassing even that of precious metal catalysts. The strong interfacial interactions within the CeMnxOy-001TiO2 nanocomposites, characterized by the presence of -Ce-O-Mn-, -Ce-O-Ti-, and -Mn-O-Ti- bonding configurations, were confirmed by the observed shifts in the binding energies of Ce4+ and Ti4+. Moreover, the photothermocatalytic activity of these nanocomposites increased further with the rising reaction temperature. Importantly, photothermocatalysis is not merely a combination of photocatalysis and thermocatalysis. The promotion of photothermal synergy by -Ce-O-Mn- is further supported by in situ FTIR analysis of CMT-B. This study provides a promising strategy for enhancing the photothermocatalytic degradation of VOCs through the integration of bimetal oxides with photocatalysts.
Ren et al. (Thu,) studied this question.