Photothermal synergic catalytic degradation of the gaseous organic pollutant isopropanol in oxygen vacancies utilizing ZnFe2O4

ZnFe 2 O 4 is an environmentally friendly semiconductor material which has potential applications in catalytic organic pollutant degradation. Here, we demonstrate the synthesis of ZnFe 2 O 4 and its photothermal catalytic application. The obtained ZnFe 2 O 4 prepared by using the sol-gel method has a large specific surface area which reaches 56.4 m 2 /g. Electron paramagnetic resonance, X-ray photoelectron spectra, and photoabsorption results indicate that ZnFe 2 O 4 has plentiful oxygen vacancies. When evaluated by the degradation of the gaseous organic pollutant isopropanol, oxygen-vacancy-rich ZnFe 2 O 4 presents a high and stable thermal catalytic performance, while driven by high-intensity light. In addition, a distinct improvement is observed. Moreover, a synergic photothermal catalytic mechanism of isopropanol degradation on ZnFe 2 O 4 is proposed.