Efficient thermal- and photocatalysts made of Au nanoparticles on MgAl-layered double hydroxides for energy and environmental applications

Composites of the noble metal Au supported on MgAl-LDHs were prepared by a simple impregnation-reduction method to be used as thermal- and photocatalysts for the photocatalytic degradation of ciprofloxacin and thermocatalytic decomposition of formic acid to produce hydrogen. A collection of techniques, including X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were employed to determine the structure and morphology properties of the as-prepared Au/MgAl-LDHs. The presence of surface Au(0) in Au/MgAl-LDHs was confirmed by TEM and XPS analyses. For the first time, we compared the effect of the surfactant PVP on the catalyst and found that the Au/MgAl-LDH composite with Au particle size of 2–8 nm had better catalytic activity than the (PVP@Au)/MgAl-LDH composite with Au particle size in the range of 1–5 nm. The sizes of Au NPs in the two catalysts were similar but had different effects on the catalytic performance. This indicated that the addition of PVP had an inhibitory effect on the catalytic activity of the catalyst. To evaluate the photostability of Au/MgAl-LDHs, recycle experiments for the photocatalytic degradation of ciprofloxacin were performed, and it was found that Au/MgAl-LDHs had good stability. Finally, we also applied Au/MgAl-LDHs in environmental catalysis and energy catalysis; we hope that they will be useful in practical applications.