One-pot hydrothermal synthesis of zeolite/sodium tantalate composite and its photodegradation of methyl orange

• Sodalite/NaTaO3 composite is prepared by a one-pot hydrothermal synthesis.
• Enhanced photodegradation is achieved due to the heterogeneous doping effect.
• Structure distortion is found for NaTaO3 after removing sodalite by acid washing.

Sodalite/NaTaO3 composite was prepared by a one-pot hydrothermal synthesis method. Sodalite and NaTaO3 grow interpenetrated, and the resulting composites have similar morphology as the pure sodalite. The sodalite/NaTaO3 composite has a lower band gap of 3.35 eV due to the heterogeneous doping effect, and exhibits an enhanced photodegradation of methyl orange under UV irradiation as compared to the pure NaTaO3. A slight structure distortion is found for NaTaO3 after removing sodalite by acid washing the sodalite/NaTaO3 composite, and such result further confirms the co-growth of the two crystals. This one-pot hydrothermal method opens up new avenues for the preparation of photocatalytic composites.

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