Ru nanoparticles decorated TiO2 nanobelts: A heterostructure towards enhanced photocatalytic activity and gas-phase selective oxidation of benzyl alcohol

One-dimensional (1D) TiO2 nanostructures can be used as the support of metal particles to form the heterostructures, which can prevent the metal agglomeration and enhance the activity of metal in various applications. Here, well-dispersed Ru nanoparticles (NPs) supported on 1D TiO2 nanobelts (NBs) are firstly synthesized by a facile photo-reduction method. The as-synthesized Ru/TiO2 NB heterostructures exhibit an improved photocatalytic performance compared with P25 and TiO2 under both UV and visible light irradiation. Our mechanistic investigation reveals that the enhanced photocatalytic activity can be attributed to the Schottky barrier effect of Ru NPs, which efficiently harvest the electrons of TiO2 and enhance the separation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. Moreover, the Ru/TiO2 NB heterostructures are assembled into the porous nanopaper via a modified paper-making process, which can be applied in heterogeneous catalysis. The formed Ru/TiO2 NB heterostructure nanopapers exhibit enhanced activity and selectivity for catalyzing aerobic oxidation of benzyl alcohol. Ru NPs are well dispersed with the average size of about 1.5 nm on the TiO2 NBs support, which could contribute to the high catalytic activity of Ru/TiO2 catalyst.