Robust TiO2/CuS@TiO2 composites loaded on Ti mesh with outstanding stability and photothermal effects for the enhanced photo-degradation of organic pollutions in a flowing device

A scalable strategy with commercial feasibility was developed to in situ generate TiO 2 nanowires/amorphous CuS@TiO 2 nanolayer (TiO 2 /CuS@TiO 2 ) composites on the surface of titanium mesh through a sequent hydrothermal method, successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR), and atomic layer deposition (ALD) techniques. The TiO 2 /CuS@TiO 2 composites could respectively harness the incident light with different spectra at the photothermal center (CuS, visible and near-infrared light) and photocatalytic center (TiO 2 , UV and visible light), which leads to the effective utilization of the solar energy. Benefiting from the CuS photothermal-induced local heating effect of CuS, the adjacent micro-zone temperature could be elevated and the activation energy barrier could be reduced by 10.5 kJ mol −1 , which promotes the activation of surface lattice oxygen and dissolved oxygen in the photocatalytic process. Meanwhile, the ALD generated TiO 2 nanolayer could both serve as reactive centers but also protecting armor for the CuS, which prohibited the peeling and oxidation of the thermal centers, leading to a high stability of the photocatalyst, which exhibits no obvious fading after 20-cycle reuse. A flow reactor was conceived and made by 3D print and the Ti-mesh based photocatalyst was integrated, which demonstrates high photocatlytic performances, manifesting its great potential for large-scale water treatment.