Oxygen-Deficient Metal Oxides from Metal-Organic Frameworks for Photocatalytic Wastewater treatment

This thesis presents a combined strategy to prepare photocatalysts, that merges the design, modification, and characterization of semiconductor materials. A photocatalyst is defined as a substance that can be activated by absorbing a photon because this material is able to accelerate a reaction without being consumed by it. This thesis focusses on the degradation of Rhodamine B, as a model organic compound, representative of organic pollutant found in the environment A catalyst works in the presence of light through light absorption and excitation across the bandgap inside the semiconductors. This thesis introduces a design strategy to improve the catalyst structure and chemistry, first by using a template approach with a high surface area, such as metal-organic frameworks and using high-temperature treatments in conjunction with a reducing gas flow (typically 5% hydrogen gas and 95% argon as inert carrier gas) to increase the harvesting the light by partially reducing the oxide.