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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The 21^st century can be considered the “Nanotechnology Era” or the “Nano-Age”. Nanomaterials may indeed provide solutions to problems that cannot be dealt with by using conventional technologies. In this context, obtaining advanced nanostructured multifunctional materials exhibiting several coexisting properties is one of the most exciting and innovative research topics. Functional nanomaterials “activated” by light are of particular interest, as solar light is the most abundant, free, and virtually limitless source of energy. Therefore, it is no surprise that photoactivated reactions for water treatment, environmental remediation, light-to-energy, and energy storage application are still very much an en-vogue research topic.

Metal oxides are a very important family of nanomaterials, having unique properties that are attractive for a number of applications. Titanium dioxide nanoparticles, because of their flexibility and versatility, are a well-investigated class of metal oxides for photocatalytic and photoactivated processes.

This Special Issue of Catalysts, “Multifunctional Materials for Photocatalytic and Photoactivated Processes”, is devoted to research works dealing with light-activated semiconductor oxides showing (at the same time) more functionalities. A particular preference will be given to materials activated by light, as they are expected to play a significant role in photocatalysis, photo-electronics, photoswitches, photo-optical sensors, smart windows, displays, optical storage memories, self-cleaning materials, building materials, and the preservation of cultural heritage.

It is therefore our pleasure to invite you to contribute to this Special Issue with your research article, communication, or review.

Dr. David Maria Tobaldi
Dr. Manfredi Saeli
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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

Photoactivated processes;
Photocatalysis;
Multifunctionality;
Nanostructured materials;
Metal oxide semiconductors;
Titanium dioxide;
Light-to-energy;
Environmental remediation
Surface functionalization of building materials
Preserving cultural heritage

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

Jump to: Review

21 pages, 9977 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Photocatalytic Lime Render for Indoor and Outdoor Air Quality Improvement

by José Antonio Ibáñez Gómez, Andrea Giampiccolo, David Maria Tobaldi, Sabine Mair, Carla Forbela da Silva, Maria Casado Barrasa, Daniel Maskell, Martin Philip Ansell, Rajnish Kurchania, Florian Mayer, Joao Antonio Labrincha, Yolanda R. de Miguel and Richard James Ball

Catalysts 2021, 11(3), 296; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/catal11030296 - 25 Feb 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2062

Abstract

This article reports a novel photocatalytic lime render for indoor and outdoor air quality improvement that is composed of a lime binder and doped TiO₂ (KRONOClean 7000^®) nanoparticles. These nanoparticles were distributed throughout the bulk of the finishing render, instead of as a thin coating, thus ensuring the durability of the photocatalytic properties upon superficial damage. The physical properties of these renders were not affected by the addition of nanoparticles except in the case of surface area, which increased significantly. In terms of their photocatalytic activity, these novel lime renders were shown to degrade up to 12% NO_x under UV light and up to 11% formaldehyde under visible light. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multifunctional Materials for Photocatalytic and Photoactivated Processes)

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Review

Jump to: Research

44 pages, 16182 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperEditor’s ChoiceReview

TiO₂ Photocatalysis for the Transformation of Aromatic Water Pollutants into Fuels

by Osama Al-Madanat, Yamen AlSalka, Wegdan Ramadan and Detlef W. Bahnemann

Catalysts 2021, 11(3), 317; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/catal11030317 - 28 Feb 2021

Cited by 34 | Viewed by 4970

Abstract

The growing world energy consumption, with reliance on conventional energy sources and the associated environmental pollution, are considered the most serious threats faced by mankind. Heterogeneous photocatalysis has become one of the most frequently investigated technologies, due to its dual functionality, i.e., environmental remediation and converting solar energy into chemical energy, especially molecular hydrogen. H₂ burns cleanly and has the highest gravimetric gross calorific value among all fuels. However, the use of a suitable electron donor, in what so-called “photocatalytic reforming”, is required to achieve acceptable efficiency. This oxidation half-reaction can be exploited to oxidize the dissolved organic pollutants, thus, simultaneously improving the water quality. Such pollutants would replace other potentially costly electron donors, achieving the dual-functionality purpose. Since the aromatic compounds are widely spread in the environment, they are considered attractive targets to apply this technology. In this review, different aspects are highlighted, including the employing of different polymorphs of pristine titanium dioxide as photocatalysts in the photocatalytic processes, also improving the photocatalytic activity of TiO₂ by loading different types of metal co-catalysts, especially platinum nanoparticles, and comparing the effect of various loading methods of such metal co-catalysts. Finally, the photocatalytic reforming of aromatic compounds employing TiO₂-based semiconductors is presented. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multifunctional Materials for Photocatalytic and Photoactivated Processes)

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