Rational Design of Two-Dimensional Reduced Siloxene Metal-Free Semiconductor for Enhanced Photocatalytic Performance

This study investigated the photocatalytic properties of Reduced siloxene nanosheets for the removal of organic pollutants from wastewater. Reduction of Siloxene resulted in a decreased band gap from 2.7 to 2.3 eV, allowing for better absorption of visible light, and quenched photoluminescence, indicating increased efficiency in the utilization of absorbed light energy for photocatalytic reactions. The catalytic activity of the Reduced siloxene nanosheets was examined through the degradation of Methylene Blue (MB), following a pseudo-second-order model, and exhibited an adsorption capacity of 9.6 mg/g for MB. The results demonstrate that reduced siloxene nanosheets have significant potential as an efficient and effective catalyst for removing organic pollutants from wastewater. The reduction process induced changes in the band gap and photoluminescence quenching that contributed to a 78% increase in catalytic activity compared to the pristine Siloxene material (53%).