Conjugation of defect-controlled nucleation and self-assembly growth achieving uniform amelioration of organic micro-flowers: Surface properties and DFT analysis

Surface amelioration by hybrid spatial architectures can be attractive for scientific applications in electrochemistry and environmental science; however, reports of microflowers with a uniform distribution of organic components have rarely been reported under wet conditions. Herein, we propose a novel method for manipulating time-dependent self-assembly, leading to a scalable flower structure formed on an inorganic support with tunable defects through a benign combination of soft-plasma oxidation and chemical conversion, where 1-azanaphthalene-8-ol (1-AP-8-ol) works as an active electron donor. The heterogeneous nucleation of the organic cluster is effectively facilitated on a defective inorganic support with a high surface area through AlN and AlO chemical bonds, which influences the charge-transfer phenomena responsible for physiochemical adhesion. A spontaneous self-assembly of the formed flower petal is begun to grow and form stable hierarchical 1-AP-8-ol-inorganic layer, resulting from the inter-molecular hydrogen bonds and non-covalent bonds between aromatic molecules. Finally, the usefulness of the surface hierarchy by stable microflower agglomerates has been proved via the evaluation of catalytic activities as a type of functional property under visible irradiation. Photocatalytic performance towards the degradation of organic dyes was enhanced in the order MB, BG, CV, RhB and MO. And the performance is further promoted via the reduction deposition of Fe nanoparticles for the effective degradation of organic pollutants such as 4-nitrophenol. These results indicate that the remarkable facilitation of regular defects as an inorganic support for the establishment of uniform organic flowers and flower-supported nanoparticles that contribute to an enhanced photocatalytic performance, showcasing significant potential for further exploration.