Temperature-dependent photothermocatalytic mineralization of gaseous benzene based on rutile TiO2 nanorod array

●The photocatalytic activity of rutile TiO2 nanorod array is significantly improved by photothermocatalytic method.●The oxidation rate of benzene first increases and then decreases as the temperature goes up.●The mineralization rate of benzene (the CO2 generation) keeps increasing as the temperature goes up.

In this study, we successfully improved the photocatalytic mineralization of gaseous benzene by tuning up temperature from room temperature to 280 °C. It was discovered that the mineralization rate of gaseous benzene (CO2 generation) increased with temperature, while the oxidation rate first increased and then decreased. A mechanism is proposed in which the mineralization rate is promoted for more unoccupied reactive sites due to desorption of H2O at an elevated temperature. However, the oxidation rate is first promoted by thermo-energy and then decreased due to weakened ∙OH-initiated oxidation of benzene due to less ∙OH on the surface at the elevated temperature.