The photodegradation of acetone over VOx/MgF2 catalysts

The metal oxide V2O5 (band gap 2.0 eV) is potentially active in solar light for photocatalysis reactions. However, the rapid electron–hole pair recombination makes it inactive. The doping of V2O5 into MgF2 (band gap 6.2 eV) matrix reduces the recombination rate of electron–hole pairs and makes VOx/MgF2 have high photon quantum efficiency (3.2% at 578 nm over 9.1%VOx/MgF2 for acetone oxidation). The Pt doped 9.1%VOx/MgF2 catalysts had even higher photon quantum efficiency (34.6% at 578 nm) for acetone oxidation. The VOx/MgF2 and Pt doped VOx/MgF2 catalysts were also proved to be active for methanol, ethanol, and benzene photodegradation.