Fluorinated TiO2 coupling with α-MnO2 nanowires supported on different substrates for photocatalytic VOCs abatement under vacuum ultraviolet irradiation

The particular role of fluorine (F) doping in the photocatalytic activity of nanocrystalline titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) towards toluene degradation was systematically studied. TiO 2 nanosheet catalysts doped with different amounts of F − (denoted by F-TiO 2 ) were synthesized by hydrothermal method. For comparison, calcination was performed on the catalyst to remove F - . The photocatalytic oxidation (PCO) of toluene over F-TiO 2 was found to be much higher than those of TiO 2 and commercial P25 under the irradiation of vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) light, with a high toluene degradation efficiency of about 90 %. Moreover, the toluene degradation efficiency increased to 96 % with the addition of only 1 wt.% α-MnO 2 nanowires, and the residual ozone (O 3 ) in the system can be completely eliminated. In addition, four different substrates were explored for catalyst coating to facilitate the operation and minimize catalyst loading, which can provide a promising strategy for practical volatile organic compounds (VOCs) abatement in industrial applications.