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Multifunctional Nanomaterials for Photocatalytic Water Treatment and Energy Generation
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Multifunctional Nanomaterials for Photocatalytic Water Treatment and Energy Generation

A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Materials Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2023) | Viewed by 5996

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Subramanian Balakumar

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
National Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, University of Madras, Chennai 600 025, India
Interests: nanobiomaterials for orthopedic, dentistry and opthamology; nanomaterials for photocatalysis; nanomaterials from biomass for water purification; nanomaterials for sustainable future and environment; nanomagnetism
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Rapid urbanization and a fast-growing population have majorly contributed to the shortage of energy and environmental exhaustion. The depletion of water resources by effluvia of dyes and pharmaceutical wastes and the need for green energy is one of the major concerns to be addressed immediately. Multifunctional photocatalytic nano-materials have come in handy as a redeemer in order to tackle the former discrepancies. These materials possess capabilities of degradation of wastes in the water, splitting of water, CO2 reduction, etc. However, in tackling the concerns, these photocatalytic nanomaterials hold several cordons such as poor absorption of light, formation of excitons, rapid recombination of e- and h+, reduced adsorption of reactants, and desorption of products, etc.

The vision of this Special Issue is to address the concerns revolving around in fabrication and characterization of the versatile novel photocatalyst by morphological/surface modifications, bandgap and band edge modification, core–shell formation, metal-semiconductors composites, carbon-based materials, and composites for applications in, effective dye degradation, water splitting, photo-electrochemical water splitting, oxygen reduction reaction, photo-electrochemical dye degradation, photoreduction of CO2, etc.

Prof. Dr. Subramanian Balakumar
Guest Editor

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. Molecules is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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

  • multifunctional photocatalytic nano-materials
  • novel semiconductor photocatalyst
  • dye degradation
  • water splitting
  • photo-electrochemical water splitting

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 7259 KiB  
Article
In2S3@TiO2/In2S3 Z-Scheme Heterojunction with Synergistic Effect for Enhanced Photocathodic Protection of Steel
by Yue Chang, Kaili Suo, Yuhang Wang, Xiaona Ren and Jiangli Cao
Molecules 2023, 28(18), 6554; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28186554 - 10 Sep 2023
Viewed by 996
Abstract
In this work, a TiO2/In2S3 heterojunction film was successfully synthesized using a one-step hydrothermal method and applied in the photocathodic protection (PCP) of 304SS. The octahedral In2S3 and In2S3@TiO2 nanoparticles [...] Read more.
In this work, a TiO2/In2S3 heterojunction film was successfully synthesized using a one-step hydrothermal method and applied in the photocathodic protection (PCP) of 304SS. The octahedral In2S3 and In2S3@TiO2 nanoparticles combined and coexisted with each other, with In2S3 quantum dots growing on the surface of TiO2 to form In2S3@TiO2 with a wrapping structure. The composite photoelectrode, which includes TiO2 with a mixed crystalline phase and In2S3, exhibited significantly enhanced PCP performance for 304SS compared with pure In2S3 and TiO2. The In2S3@TiO2/In2S3 composites with 0.3 g of P25 titanium dioxide (P25) showed the best protection performance, resulting in a cathodic shift of its OCP coupled with 304SS to −0.664 VAgCl. The electron transfer tracking results demonstrate that In2S3@TiO2/In2S3 forms a Z-scheme heterojunction structure. The enhanced PCP performance could be attributed to the synergistic effect of the mixed crystalline phase and the Z-scheme heterojunction system. The mixed crystalline phase of TiO2 provides more electrons, and these electrons are gathered at higher energy potentials in the Z-scheme system. Additionally, the built-in electric field further promotes the more effective electrons transfer from photoelectrode to the protected metals, thus, leading to enhanced photoelectrochemical cathodic protection of 304SS. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multifunctional Nanomaterials for Photocatalytic Water Treatment and Energy Generation)
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16 pages, 4828 KiB  
Article
Surface Modification of ZnO with Sn(IV)-Porphyrin for Enhanced Visible Light Photocatalytic Degradation of Amaranth Dye
by Nirmal Kumar Shee and Hee-Joon Kim
Molecules 2023, 28(18), 6481; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28186481 - 07 Sep 2023
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 961
Abstract
Two hybrid composite photocatalysts, denoted as SnP/AA@ZnO and SnP@ZnO, were fabricated by a reaction of trans-dihydroxo[5,10,15,20-tetrakis(4-pyridyl)porphyrinato]tin(IV) (SnP) and ZnO with and without pretreatment of adipic acid (AA), respectively. In SnP@ZnO, SnP and ZnO are likely held together by a coordinative interaction between [...] Read more.
Two hybrid composite photocatalysts, denoted as SnP/AA@ZnO and SnP@ZnO, were fabricated by a reaction of trans-dihydroxo[5,10,15,20-tetrakis(4-pyridyl)porphyrinato]tin(IV) (SnP) and ZnO with and without pretreatment of adipic acid (AA), respectively. In SnP@ZnO, SnP and ZnO are likely held together by a coordinative interaction between the pyridyl N atoms of SnP and the Zn atoms on the surface of ZnO. In the case of SnP/AA@ZnO, the SnP centers were robustly coupled with ZnO nanoparticles through the AA anchors. SnP/AA@ZnO exhibited largely enhanced photocatalytic activities for the degradation of anionic amaranth (AM) dye under a visible light irradiation, compared to SnP, ZnO, and SnP@ZnO. The degradation efficiency of AM by SnP/AA@ZnO was 95% within 60 min at a rate constant of 0.048 min−1. The remarkable photocatalytic oxidation performance of SnP/AA@ZnO was mainly attributed to the synergistic effect between SnP and ZnO. This study is valuable for the development of highly effective composite photocatalytic systems in advanced oxidation processes and is of importance for the treatment of wastewater containing dyes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multifunctional Nanomaterials for Photocatalytic Water Treatment and Energy Generation)
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19 pages, 8775 KiB  
Article
Determining the Photoelectrical Behavior and Photocatalytic Activity of an h-YMnO3 New Type of Obelisk-like Perovskite in the Degradation of Malachite Green Dye
by Miguel Ángel López-Alvarez, Jorge Manuel Silva-Jara, Jazmín Guadalupe Silva-Galindo, Martha Reyes-Becerril, Carlos Arnulfo Velázquez-Carriles, María Esther Macías-Rodríguez, Adriana Macaria Macías-Lamas, Mario Alberto García-Ramírez, Carlos Alberto López de Alba and César Alberto Reynoso-García
Molecules 2023, 28(9), 3932; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28093932 - 06 May 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2125
Abstract
YMnO3 is a P-type semiconductor with a perovskite-type structure (ABO3). It presents two crystalline systems: rhombohedral and hexagonal, the latter being the most stable and studied. In the hexagonal system, Mn3+ ions are coordinated by five oxygen ions forming [...] Read more.
YMnO3 is a P-type semiconductor with a perovskite-type structure (ABO3). It presents two crystalline systems: rhombohedral and hexagonal, the latter being the most stable and studied. In the hexagonal system, Mn3+ ions are coordinated by five oxygen ions forming a trigonal bipyramid, and the Y3+ ions are coordinated by five oxygen ions. This arrangement favors its ferroelectric and ferromagnetic properties, which have been widely studied since 1963. However, applications based on their optical properties have yet to be explored. This work evaluates the photoelectric response and the photocatalytic activity of yttrium manganite in visible spectrum wavelengths. To conduct this, a rod-obelisk-shaped yttrium manganite with a reduced indirect bandgap value of 1.43 eV in its hexagonal phase was synthesized through the precipitation method. The synthesized yttrium manganite was elucidated by solid-state techniques, such as DRX, XPS, and UV-vis. It was non-toxic as shown by the 100% leukocyte viability of mice BALB/c. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multifunctional Nanomaterials for Photocatalytic Water Treatment and Energy Generation)
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18 pages, 5512 KiB  
Article
In Situ Hydrothermal Synthesis of Ni1−xMnxWO4 Nanoheterostructure for Enhanced Photodegradation of Methyl Orange
by Imran Hasan, Mohammed Abdullah Albaeejan, Alanoud Abdullah Alshayiqi, Wedyan Saud Al-Nafaei and Fahad A. Alharthi
Molecules 2023, 28(3), 1140; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28031140 - 23 Jan 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1517
Abstract
The monoclinic nanocrystalline Ni1−xMnxWO4 heterostructure has been successfully synthesized by the hydrothermal technique for achieving better sensitive and photocatalytic performances. Different characterization techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), ultraviolet-visible (UV–Vis), and photoluminescence (PL) [...] Read more.
The monoclinic nanocrystalline Ni1−xMnxWO4 heterostructure has been successfully synthesized by the hydrothermal technique for achieving better sensitive and photocatalytic performances. Different characterization techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), ultraviolet-visible (UV–Vis), and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy have been employed to investigate their structural, microstructural, and optical properties. Mn-ion incorporation in the NiWO4 lattice reduces the particle size of the sample compared with the pure undoped NiWO4 sample, which has been confirmed from the transmission electron microscope image. The Tauc plot of the Ni1−xMnxWO4 sample exhibits a significant decrease in bandgap energy compared with the pure undoped NiWO4 sample due to the quantum confinement effect. Finally, the material was explored as a photocatalyst for the degradation of methyl orange (MO) dye from wastewater under visible light irradiation. Various reaction parameters such as pH, catalyst dose, reaction time, and kinetics of the photodegradation were studied using the batch method. The results showed that the Ni1−xMnxWO4 is highly efficient (94.51%) compared with undoped NiWO4 (65.45%). The rate of photodegradation by Ni1–xMnxWO4 (0.067) was found to be 1.06 times higher than the undoped NiWO4 (0.062). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multifunctional Nanomaterials for Photocatalytic Water Treatment and Energy Generation)
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