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Recent Advances in Visible-Light-Driven Heterogeneous Photocatalysis

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Keywords
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A special issue of Catalysts (ISSN 2073-4344). This special issue belongs to the section "Photocatalysis".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2021) | Viewed by 15869

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Special Issue Editor

Dr. Narmina O. Balayeva

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Guest Editor

1. Center for Materials, Architectures and Integration of Nanomembranes (MAIN), Chemnitz University of Technology, Rosenbergstraße 6, 09126 Chemnitz, Germany
2. Semiconductor Physics, Institute of Physics, Chemnitz University of Technology, Reichenhainer Str. 70, 09126 Chemnitz, Germany
Interests: photocatalysis; organic synthesis; solar energy materials; photoelectrocatalysis; TiO2; thin films; semiconductor nanoparticles
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The consumption of non-renewable resources and the rapid growth of chemical industries are causing serious energy and environmental problems. Highly efficient systems for converting and storing solar energy are therefore required in order to tackle global energy and environmental problems. The use of sunlight and heterogeneous catalysts to drive chemical reactions is an environmentally sustainable synthesis process that leads to the basic principle of green chemistry. This concept calls for chemists to establish new methodologies for the development of sustainable chemicals, the conversion of water into molecular hydrogen fuel, and the decomposition of environmental contaminants. However, the lack of development of the most active heterogeneous photocatalysts in practical applications may probably be due to their broad bandgap energy, which only allows them to be excited by UV light. The design of visible light-responsive photocatalytic systems is therefore a primary goal of scientists.

The objective of this Special Issue is to assemble original research articles, reviews, and comments on the challenges raised by state-of-the-art visible-light-driven photocatalytic systems, as well as the mechanistic investigations of existing ones, namely:

Perovskites
g-C₃N₄Band-gap engineering of UV active photocatalysts, i.e., TiO₂, ZnO, niobates, etc.
Dye-sensitization
Ligant to metal charge transfer (LMCT)
Mechanistic investigations
Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect

Dr. Narmina O. Balayeva
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Catalysts is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Band gap engineering
Organic synthesis
Pollutant degradations
Water splitting
Fuel conversions
NOx, acetaldehyde, and formaldehyde degradation
Visible-light-responsive nanocomposites
Surface plasmonic-assisted photocatalysis
LMCT
MLCT
Semiconductors
Electrophotocatalysis

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 4257 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Thermal Treatment of Polyvinyl Alcohol for Coupling MoS₂ and TiO₂ Nanotube Arrays toward Enhancing Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting Performance

by Tho Truong Nguyen, Thi Minh Cao, Narmina O. Balayeva and Viet Van Pham

Catalysts 2021, 11(7), 857; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/catal11070857 - 17 Jul 2021

Cited by 15 | Viewed by 2961

Abstract

Solar-driven photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting, using semiconductor photoelectrodes, is considered a promising renewable energy source and solution for environmental sustainability. Herein, we report polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as a binder material for combining MoS₂ and TiO₂ nanotube arrays (TNAs) to improve PEC water splitting ability. By a thermal treatment process, the formation of the π conjunction in the PVA structure enhanced the PEC performance of MoS₂/TNAs, exhibiting linear sweeps in an anodic direction with the current density over 65 μA/cm² at 0 V vs. Ag/AgCl. Besides, the photoresponse ability of MoS₂/TNAs is approximately 6-fold more significant than that of individual TNAs. Moreover, a Tafel slope of 140.6 mV/decade has been obtained for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) of MoS₂/TNAs materials. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Visible-Light-Driven Heterogeneous Photocatalysis)

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13 pages, 2208 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Heterogeneous Photo-Fenton Reaction for Olive Mill Wastewater Treatment—Case of Reusable Catalyst

by Cristina Agabo-García, Naima Calderón and Gassan Hodaifa

Catalysts 2021, 11(5), 557; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/catal11050557 - 27 Apr 2021

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2091

Abstract

Heterogeneous catalysts can be an efficient and economical option for olive mill wastewater (OMW) treatment by an advanced oxidation process if they could be reused. In this work, OMW was treated using a heterogeneous photo-Fenton reaction (artificial ultraviolet light/H₂O₂/HFeO₂). For this purpose, different concentrations of HFeO₂ were tested: 0.04; 0.3; 0.8; 5.0; 10.0; 20.0; 30.0, and 50.0 g/L. The following operational conditions were chosen: pH = 3.0, temperature = 20 °C, agitation rate = 700 rpm. The experimental results showed high removal percentages of the main OMW characterization parameters at 50 g/L of HFeO₂: %COD_removal = 62.8%; %total phenolic compounds (TPCs) = 88.9%. These results were also compared with those of other control oxidation systems, i.e., UV, H₂O₂, and UV/H₂O₂, which provided 35.5 and 56.1%; 46.2 and 74.0%; 48.0 and 76.8% removal, respectively. In addition, the catalyst was reused three times, recovering more than 90.5% of it. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Visible-Light-Driven Heterogeneous Photocatalysis)

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17 pages, 4212 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

A Selective Synthesis of TaON Nanoparticles and Their Comparative Study of Photoelectrochemical Properties

by Vijay Khanal, Eric Soto-Harrison, Dhanesh Chandra, Narmina O. Balayeva, Detlef W. Bahnemann and Vaidyanathan (Ravi) Subramanian

Catalysts 2020, 10(10), 1128; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/catal10101128 - 01 Oct 2020

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3051

Abstract

A simplified ammonolysis method for synthesizing single phase TaON nanoparticles is presented and the resulting photoelectrochemical properties are compared and contrasted with as-synthesized Ta₂O₅ and Ta₃N₅. The protocol for partial nitridation of Ta₂O₅ (synthesis of TaON) offers a straightforward simplification over existing methods. Moreover, the present protocol offers extreme reproducibility and enhanced chemical safety. The morphological characterization of the as-synthesized photocatalysts indicate spherical nanoparticles with sizes 30, 40, and 30 nm Ta₂O₅, TaON, and Ta₃N₅ with the absorbance onset at ~320 nm, 580 nm, and 630 nm respectively. The photoactivity of the catalysts has been examined for the degradation of a representative cationic dye methylene blue (MB) using xenon light. Subsequent nitridation of Ta₂O₅ yields significant increment in the conversion (

ζ

: Ta₂O₅ < TaON < Ta₃N₅) mainly attributable to the defect-facilitated adsorption of MB on the catalyst surface and bandgap lowering of catalysts with Ta₃N₅ showing > 95%

ζ

for a lower (0.1 g) loading and with a lamp with lower Ultraviolet (UV) content. Improved Photoelectrochemical performance is noted after a series of chronoamperometry (J/t), linear sweep voltammetry (LSV), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements. Finally, stability experiments performed using recovered and treated photocatalyst show no loss of photoactivity, suggesting the photocatalysts can be successfully recycled. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Visible-Light-Driven Heterogeneous Photocatalysis)

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Review

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36 pages, 4792 KiB

Open AccessReview

Metal Sulfide Photocatalysts for Hydrogen Generation: A Review of Recent Advances

by Zamin Mamiyev and Narmina O. Balayeva

Catalysts 2022, 12(11), 1316; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/catal12111316 - 27 Oct 2022

Cited by 50 | Viewed by 6523

Abstract

Metal-sulfide nanostructures have piqued the interest of researchers for decades due to their intriguing optoelectronic properties. Indeed, significant advances and improvements have been made in various fundamental aspects for cutting-edge applications, such as water splitting and hydrogen production. Furthermore, rising demand for low-dimensional materials due to lower material consumption and improved performance due to quantum size effects has spurred research on semiconducting metal sulfides. Consequently, size-controllable nanostructures with diverse morphologies have been fabricated and studied for potential applications. However, the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution rate is still limited mainly by fast recombination rate, poor solar energy utilization and lack of surface-active sites for H₂ reduction. This review will highlight particularly recent findings in metal-sulfide-based photocatalysts for hydrogen evolution reactions, considering the swift development and excellent research in this field. Following a brief overview of fundamental properties, we will explore state-of-the-art strategies for enhancing H₂ generation efficiencies over the pristine, heterostructured and co-catalayzed metal-sulfide photocatalysts. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Visible-Light-Driven Heterogeneous Photocatalysis)

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