Coupling of SiC and CeO2 nanosheets to enhance solar energy utilization and optimize catalytic ozonation

The coupling of solar energy conversion and catalytic ozonation is an effective way to eliminate volatile organic compounds with high-efficiency and low-energy-consumption. In this work, we presented a non-noble-metal SiC/CeO2 system for solar-light-assisted catalytic ozonation of toluene. Temperature and light-controlled experiments and atmosphere surface photovoltage measurement were conducted to evaluate photothermal and photoelectric processes. Results show that toluene removal and mineralization efficiencies of 25%SiC-CeO2 were 69.7% and 67.1%, respectively, under full-spectrum illumination with an hourly space velocity of 6000 /h. The SiC enhanced the conversion of incident visible and infrared (IR) light to heat, thereby increasing the reaction temperature over 25%SiC-CeO2. Moreover, SiC transferred electrons to CeO2 in 25%SiC-CeO2, generating more surface Ce3+ sites and promoting charge carriers separation efficiency. Given these characteristics, 25%SiC-CeO2 exhibited outstanding performance in toluene mineralization, even better than Pd-loaded CeO2.