Pickering emulsion-based TiO2@PPy janus microspheres for efficient photocatalytic degradation of 5-methylbenzotriazole

The importance of photocatalysts is indisputable in scientific research. Improving the efficiency of photo-catalysis depends on appropriate catalyst structure design and synthesis strategies that enhance the se-paration and migration efficiency of photogenerated charge carriers. In this study, we used a Pickering emulsion-based template masking method to prepare Janus-like core-shell TiO2 @PPy under in-situ UV irradiation. Compared to non-Janus-like core-shell catalysts, Janus-like catalysts showed 1.5-10 times higher efficiency for the degradation of 5-MBT. The two catalysts were analyzed using time-resolved photoluminescence(TRPL), and the fitting analysis of the results indicated that the Janus-like catalyst ex-hibited a higher proportion of long-lived charge carriers. This indicates that the Janus structure has a de-cisive effect on the charge separation of photocatalyst particles. The electron transfer mechanism of the Janus composite catalyst was further determined by EPR and band structure analysis. This work demon-strates a simple and scalable preparation strategy to enhance the efficiency of photocatalysts.& COPY; 2023 Published by Elsevier B.V.