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Photoelectrochemical and Photocatalytic Performance: Catalysts for Renewable Energy Production and Wastewater Remediation

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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 (10 December 2021) | Viewed by 9108

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Aadesh P. Singh

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Guest Editor

Department of Electronics and Nanoengineering, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland
Interests: experimental photoelectrochemistry; energy materials; fuel cell; photocatalyst; surface and interface engineering in nanomaterials

Dr. Matthias Vandichel

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Guest Editor

Bernal Institute and Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland
Interests: computational photo-electrochemistry; computational catalysis; molecular modeling; oxygen evolution reactions; CO₂ reduction

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The Special Issue “Photoelectrochemical and Photocatalytic Performance: Catalysts for Renewable Energy Production and Wastewater Remediation” will focus on the recent advances in photoelectrochemical and photocatalytic performance for direct solar water splitting for hydrogen production, CO₂ reduction to chemicals and fuels, degradation of organic substances, and water purification. This Special Issue wishes to include results from both theoretical and experimental studies on heterogeneous catalysts. The experimental scope includes the synthesis, modification, and applications of group IV, group III–V, metal oxides, and earth abundant material-based catalysts which excel in terms of their high photocatalytic activity and that possess tunable physicochemical properties that can be controlled by changing the material composition. The computational scope is on studies of the aforementioned catalysts for various electronic structure calculations, including excited states, polaron and charge transfer studies, band edge alignments at interfaces, and computational reaction network studies that consider the coupling of intermediates within kinetic and Monte Carlo models in addition to their validation through experimental results that allow gaining insights into photo(electro)catalytic behavior at longer time and length scales.

Dr. Aadesh P. Singh
Dr. Matthias Vandichel
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

photoelectrochemical
photocatalyst
solar hydrogen
nanocatalysts
surface and interface engineering
CO₂ reduction
charge transfer
first-principles reaction networks
computational photo(electro)chemistry

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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21 pages, 5777 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Study of Influence Factors in the Evaluation of the Performance of a Photocatalytic Fibre Reactor (TiO₂/SiO₂) for the Removal of Organic Pollutants from Water

by Juan C. García-Prieto, Luis A. González-Burciaga, José B. Proal-Nájera and Manuel García-Roig

Catalysts 2022, 12(2), 122; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal12020122 - 20 Jan 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1983

Abstract

The performance of a photocatalytic fibre reactor (UBE Chemical Europe), made of cartridges of fine particles of TiO₂ dispersed within silicon fibres and irradiated by ultraviolet light, for the removal of organic pollutants from synthetic waters was evaluated. In the sensitivity analysis carried out, the factors catalytic surface area, fibre state, temperature and initial substrate concentration were studied using 4-chlorophenol as a test compound. The percentage of titanium in the fibre remained practically invariable after a series of experiments and cleaning procedures. Furthermore, the kinetics of removal of pyrene, phenol, 4-chlorophenol and bisphenol A (BPA) from water were evaluated by means of HPLC, UV-absorption and fluorescence techniques. Kinetic operational parameters were determined from a mathematical model proposed by Langmuir–Hinshelwood. Results show that catalytic surface, initial substrate concentration and temperature directly affect the degradation rate of organic compounds, whereas fibre state does not have a significant effect on that. It is proposed that removal of organic compounds from water mainly depends on the adsorption of the specific pollutant on the photocatalytic fibre and on the physical diffusion of the substrate towards the photocatalytic TiO₂ active sites on the fibre, with the heterogeneous phase reaction prevailing over the homogeneous phase reaction. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Photoelectrochemical and Photocatalytic Performance: Catalysts for Renewable Energy Production and Wastewater Remediation)

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17 pages, 3829 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Photocatalytic Treatment of Wastewater Containing Simultaneous Organic and Inorganic Pollution: Competition and Operating Parameters Effects

by Ahmed Amine Azzaz, Salah Jellali, Nasser Ben Harharah Hamed, Atef El Jery, Lotfi Khezami, Aymen Amine Assadi and Abdeltif Amrane

Catalysts 2021, 11(7), 855; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal11070855 - 16 Jul 2021

Cited by 21 | Viewed by 2120

Abstract

In the present study, methylene blue (MB) removal from aqueous solutions via the photocatalytic process using TiO₂ as a catalyst in the presence of external ultra-violet light (UV) was investigated. The results of adsorption in the absence of UV radiation showed that adsorption reached an equilibrium state at 60 min. The experimental kinetic data were found to be well fitted by the pseudo-second-order model. Furthermore, the isotherm study suggested that dye uptake by TiO₂ is a chemisorption process with a maximum retention capacity of 34.0 mg/g. The photodegradation of MB was then assessed under various experimental conditions. The related data showed that dye mineralization decreased when dye concentrations were increased and was favored at high pH values and low salt concentrations. The simultaneous presence of organic and inorganic pollution (Zinc) was also evaluated. The effect of the molar ratio Zn²⁺/MB⁺ in the solution at different pH values and NaCl concentrations was also monitored. The corresponding experimental results showed that at low values of Zn²⁺ in the solution (30 mg/L), the kinetic of the MB removal became faster until reaching an optimum at Zn²⁺/MB⁺ concentrations of 60/60 mg/L; it then slowed down for higher concentrations. The solutions’ carbon contents were measured during the degradation process and showed total mineralization after about 5 h for the optimal Zn²⁺/MB⁺ condition. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Photoelectrochemical and Photocatalytic Performance: Catalysts for Renewable Energy Production and Wastewater Remediation)

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Review

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25 pages, 2312 KiB

Open AccessReview

A Review of Recent Developments in Molecular Dynamics Simulations of the Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting Process

by Nicolae Goga, Leonhard Mayrhofer, Ionut Tranca, Silvia Nedea, Koen Heijmans, Veerapandian Ponnuchamy and Andrei Vasilateanu

Catalysts 2021, 11(7), 807; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal11070807 - 30 Jun 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 4407

Abstract

In this review, we provide a short overview of the Molecular Dynamics (MD) method and how it can be used to model the water splitting process in photoelectrochemical hydrogen production. We cover classical non-reactive and reactive MD techniques as well as multiscale extensions combining classical MD with quantum chemical and continuum methods. Selected examples of MD investigations of various aqueous semiconductor interfaces with a special focus on TiO₂ are discussed. Finally, we identify gaps in the current state-of-the-art where further developments will be needed for better utilization of MD techniques in the field of water splitting. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Photoelectrochemical and Photocatalytic Performance: Catalysts for Renewable Energy Production and Wastewater Remediation)

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