Anion intercalated layered-double-hydroxide structure for efficient photocatalytic NO remove

Due to the easily controllable interlayer anions, metal cation composition proportion and thickness, which is beneficial to modify surface chemical state and tune bandgap, layered double hydroxides (LDHs) have great promising potential for photocatalytic applications. In this study, we have successfully synthesized the ZnAl–LDH intercalated the single anion between ZnAl cationic interlayer without anionic impurities by using a facile calcining and reconstructing routes. The electron structure and surface chemical state of the prepared products have been investigated by combining the DFT calculation and experimental characterization methods. UV–vis DRS was used to certify the light absorption of the prepared products, and we performed the DFT calculation to demonstrate the density of state and activation of reactant. These results suggested that the ZnAl–LDH–CO₃ possessed the more proper band structure and superior ability to activate NO and O₂ for accelerating the photocatalytic NO oxidation activity. Moreover, the in situ DRIFTS with dynamically monitoring intermediates and products over the ZnAl–LDH–CO₃ was adopted to declare the photocatalytic NO oxidized process during the photocatalytic reaction process. This work illustrated the influence of different interlayer anions to the electron structure and surface chemical state of ZnAl–LDH structure through the experimental verification combined DFT calculation and the photocatalytic NO oxidized process viain situ DRIFTS analyzing, which would provide a novel way to design and fabricate the efficient photocatalysis, and understand the reaction process.