LiFePO4 nanorods were facilely synthesized under hydrothermal condition. The crystalline structure and particle morphology of LiFePO4 powders were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). The electrochemical properties of LiFePO4/Li cells were investigated by galvanostatic test and cyclic voltammetry (CV). The XRD result demonstrated LiFePO4 powder had an orthorhombic structure with a space group of Pnma. The synthesized LiFePO4 nanorods exhibited a first discharge capacity of 155 mAh·g-1 (91% of theorectical capacity) close to the theorectical capacity of LiFePO4 (170 mAh·g-1) at 0.1 C.
Ag modified ZnO (Ag/ZnO) nanocrystals were prepared by a facile and low temperature wet chemical method. The phase structures, morphologies, and optical properties of the as-prepared samples were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), the Brumauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area, UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and photoluminescence (PL) spectra, respectively. The photocatalytic performance of Ag/ZnO with diffent Ag contents was measured with the degradation of methyl orange (MO) at room temperature under UV light irradiation. The experimental results indicated that the well-crystalline ZnO nanopaticles with a size of ca. 4.5 nm exhibited a high photocatalytic activity for the degradation of MO with the apparent rate constant (k) of 1.57 ×10-2 min-1, and the photocatalytic activities of ZnO were further enhanced by modification with silver. When the Ag loading was 3mol%, Ag/ZnO showed the highest photocatalytic acitivity with a k value of 5.452×10-2 min-1, which is 3.5 and 2.5 time more than that of ZnO and commercial P25, respectively.
The AgBr powder was prepared by a hydrothermal method via a reaction of AgNO3 with hexadecyltrimethy ammonium bromide(CTAB),namely,CTAB-assisted synthesis method.The selective-adsorption ability of the AgBr samples for the MO was evaluated in a MO and Rhodamine B mixed solution via ultraviolet-visible spectra.Compared with the AgBr sample prepared from NaBr solution,it was found that the AgBr powder synthesized by CTAB-assisted method exhibited high selective-adsorption performance for the MO in the MO-RhB mixed system.After aged for 60 min,the MO could be efficiently removed by CTAB-assisted AgBr powder.Considering the potential wide applications of the selective adsorption,the CTAB-assisted AgBr provides a new and efficient method for the removal of various dyes and is possible to be widely used in industries.
The porous TiO_2 film was self-assembled on the surface of electrophoretic-deposited titanate nanoribbon film without the addition of templates by using TiF_4 as the precursor.It was found that the hydrolysis of TiF_4 was accompanied with the self-assembly processes of TiO_2 nanoparticles on the surface of electrophoretic-deposited titanate nanoribbon film,resulting in the formation of porous TiO_2 structures.Titanate nanoribbon film was demonstrated to provide the active sites for the effective self-assembly of porous TiO_2 nanostructures owing to a large amount of hydroxyl groups.Compared with the nonporous TiO_2 film,the prepared porous TiO_2 films obviously showed an enhanced photocatalytic activity,which could be attributed to the rapider diffusion and more efficient transport of various reactants and products during photocatalytic reaction in the porous structures.
