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Mesoporous Materials for Photocatalytic and Environmental Applications

A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Porous Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 January 2022) | Viewed by 5997

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
CNR-STEMS, National Research Council, Institute of Sciences and Technologies for Sustainable Energy and Mobility, P.le V. Tecchio 80, 80125 Napoli, Italy
Interests: metal–organic frameworks (MOFs); graphene-related materials (GRMs); MOF-derived metal oxides; carbon-based materials; biomass-derived materials; nanomaterials; hybrids; composites; material synthesis; material characterization
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Mesoporous materials are a broad family of porous solids, with pores sizes between 2 and 50 nm, including ordered mesoporous silicas, organosilicas, zeolites, zeolite-like materials, mesoporous TiO2, templated carbons, pillared materials, and so on.

Mesoporous materials are continuously attracting the interest of academy and industry researchers thanks to their versatility in many fields of science and technology. Customized materials with ordered and uniformed porosity, produced by applying different synthetic approaches (sol–gel technique, solvothermal synthesis, soft- and hard-templating synthetic strategies, and microwave heating), find application in adsorption, catalysis, ion exchange, separations, environmental processes, electrochemistry, nanotechnology, and biotechnology.

This Special Issue is aimed at covering recent research and new trends in the use of mesoporous materials for photocatalytic and environmental applications such as gas sensing, sequestration and/or conversion of gaseous organic pollutants (greenhouses gases and VOCs), removal of heavy metal ions from contaminated water, removal and/or conversion of organic pollutants from contaminated water, with particular attention paid to emerging pollutants and enzyme immobilization for the bio-catalytic removal of organic pollutants.

Contributions in the form of research papers, communications, and reviews are welcome. Reviews on the design, the synthesis, and the surface functionalization of mesoporous materials will be also considered.

Dr. Valentina Gargiulo
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • Mesoporous materials
  • Adsorption
  • Photocatalysis
  • Biocatalysis
  • Organic pollutants
  • Heavy metals removal
  • Water decontamination
  • Gas sensing
  • Greenhouses gases
  • VOCs
  • Emerging pollutants.

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 2102 KiB  
Article
Photocatalytic Activity of Cu2S/WO3 and Cu2S/SnO2 Heterostructures for Indoor Air Treatment
by Alexandru Enesca and Luminita Isac
Materials 2021, 14(13), 3656; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14133656 - 30 Jun 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2707
Abstract
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are commonly found in indoor spaces (e.g., homes or offices) and are often related to various illnesses, some of them with carcinogenic potential. The origins of VOC release in the indoor environment are in office products, building materials, electronics, [...] Read more.
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are commonly found in indoor spaces (e.g., homes or offices) and are often related to various illnesses, some of them with carcinogenic potential. The origins of VOC release in the indoor environment are in office products, building materials, electronics, cleaning products, furniture, and maintenance products. VOC removal can be done based on two types of technologies: adsorption in specific materials and decomposition via oxidative processes. The present article reports the development and photocatalytic activity of two heterostructures (Cu2S/WO3 and Cu2S/SnO2) used for indoor air decontamination. The acetaldehyde removal rate is discussed in correlation with the S-scheme mechanisms established between the heterostructure components but also comparatively with the bare catalysts’ activity. Acetaldehyde was considered as a VOC reference because it was found by the International Agency for Research on Cancer to be one of the most frequent air toxins with potential carcinogenic effects. The samples contained monoclinic WO3, tetragonal SnO2, and orthorhombic Cu2S crystalline structures. The Cu2S crystallite size in the heterostructure varied from 75.9 to 82.4 Å, depending on the metal oxide substrate. The highest photocatalytic efficiency (75.7%) corresponded to Cu2S/SnO2, with a constant rate of 0.106 s−1 (which was three times faster than WO3 or SnO2 and seven and a half times faster than Cu2S). Full article
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14 pages, 7639 KiB  
Article
Preparation and Photocatalytic Properties of a Bagasse Cellulose-Supported Nano-TiO2 Photocatalytic-Coupled Microbial Carrier
by Jianhua Xiong, Yinna Liang, Hao Cheng, Shuocheng Guo, Chunlin Jiao, Hongxiang Zhu, Shuangfei Wang, Jiaxiang Liang, Qifeng Yang and Guoning Chen
Materials 2020, 13(7), 1645; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma13071645 - 2 Apr 2020
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2572
Abstract
Intimate coupling of photocatalysis and biodegradation (ICPB) has shown promise in removing unwanted organic compounds from water. In this study, bagasse cellulose titanium dioxide composite carrier (SBC-TiO2) was prepared by low-temperature foaming methods. The optimum preparation conditions, material characterization and photocatalytic [...] Read more.
Intimate coupling of photocatalysis and biodegradation (ICPB) has shown promise in removing unwanted organic compounds from water. In this study, bagasse cellulose titanium dioxide composite carrier (SBC-TiO2) was prepared by low-temperature foaming methods. The optimum preparation conditions, material characterization and photocatalytic performance of the composite carrier were then explored. By conducting a single factor test, we found that bagasse cellulose with a mass fraction of 4%, a polyvinyl alcohol solution (PVA) with a mass fraction of 5% and 20 g of a pore-forming agent were optimum conditions for the composite carrier. Under these conditions, good wet density, porosity, water absorption and retention could be realized. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) results showed that the composite carrier exhibited good biologic adhesion. X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) results confirmed the successful incorporation of nano-TiO2 dioxide into the composite carrier. When the mass concentration of methylene blue (MB) was 10 mg L−1 at 200 mL, 2 g of the composite carrier was added and the initial pH value of the reaction was maintained at 6, the catalytic effect was best under these conditions and the degradation rate reached 78.91% after 6 h. The method of preparing the composite carrier can aid in the degradation of hard-to-degrade organic compounds via ICPB. These results provide a solid platform for technical research and development in the field of wastewater treatment. Full article
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