Semiconductor Nanomaterials in Photocatalysis

A special issue of Nanomaterials (ISSN 2079-4991). This special issue belongs to the section "Energy and Catalysis".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 November 2020) | Viewed by 14849

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
School of Chemistry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
Interests: nanostructured materials; graphene; quantum dots; metal organic frameworks; molecular magnetism; scattering techniques

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

With humanity facing the depletion of fossil fuel resources and associated climate change due to an increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide, the drive to achieve greater utilization of the Earth’s primary energy source, the sun, has taken on new urgency. Complex photocatalytic processes that harvest solar energy have evolved in nature, and researchers are now racing to catch up with numerous novel discoveries that aim to harness photons to drive chemical processes and achieve charge separation. Many semiconductor materials have band gap energies within the eV region, consistent with the maximum in the solar spectrum at sea level, making them ideal candidate photocatalysts as long as recombination of electron–hole pairs can be avoided. One way of achieving this is to extract charge from the semiconductor into acceptor moieties, small photoactive centers with high surface areas which are achieved with nanoparticles of semiconducting materials. This Special Edition aims to draw together key developments that will allow us to make better use of the only energy source that is guaranteed not to expire for another 5 billion years.

Dr. John Arron Stride
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • semiconductor
  • nanoparticles
  • water splitting
  • artificial photosynthesis
  • renewable energy
  • solar power
  • low carbon emissions

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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15 pages, 6747 KiB  
Article
Photocatalytic Performance and Degradation Pathway of Rhodamine B with TS-1/C3N4 Composite under Visible Light
by Jingjing Yang, Hongqing Zhu, Yuan Peng, Pengxi Li, Shuyan Chen, Bing Yang and Jinzhong Zhang
Nanomaterials 2020, 10(4), 756; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano10040756 - 15 Apr 2020
Cited by 31 | Viewed by 4198
Abstract
TS-1/C3N4 composites were prepared by calcining the precursors with cooling crystallization method and were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), UV-Vis diffuse reflection spectrum (DRS) and nitrogen [...] Read more.
TS-1/C3N4 composites were prepared by calcining the precursors with cooling crystallization method and were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), UV-Vis diffuse reflection spectrum (DRS) and nitrogen adsorption–desorption isotherm. The photocatalytic performance of TS-1/C3N4 composites was investigated to degrade Rhodamine B (RhB) under visible light irradiation. The results showed that all composites exhibited better photocatalytic performance than pristine TS-1 and C3N4; TS-1/C3N4-B composite (the measured mass ratio of TS-1 to C3N4 is 1:4) had best performance, with a rate constant of 0.04166 min−1, which is about two and ten times higher than those of C3N4 and TS-1, respectively. We attributed the enhanced photocatalytic performance of TC-B to the optimized heterostructure formed by TS-1 and C3N4 with proper proportion. From the results of photoluminescence spectra (PL) and the enhanced photocurrent, it is concluded that photogenerated electrons and holes were separated more effectively in TS-1/C3N4 composites. The contribution of the three main active species for photocatalytic degradation followed a decreasing order of ·O2, ·OH and h+. The degradation products of RhB were identified by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), and the possible photocatalytic degradation pathways were proposed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Semiconductor Nanomaterials in Photocatalysis)
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Review

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20 pages, 6767 KiB  
Review
Novel Architecture Titanium Carbide (Ti3C2Tx) MXene Cocatalysts toward Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production: A Mini-Review
by Van-Huy Nguyen, Ba-Son Nguyen, Chechia Hu, Chinh Chien Nguyen, Dang Le Tri Nguyen, Minh Tuan Nguyen Dinh, Dai-Viet N. Vo, Quang Thang Trinh, Mohammadreza Shokouhimehr, Amirhossein Hasani, Soo Young Kim and Quyet Van Le
Nanomaterials 2020, 10(4), 602; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano10040602 - 25 Mar 2020
Cited by 121 | Viewed by 10271
Abstract
Low dimensional transition metal carbide and nitride (MXenes) have been emerging as frontier materials for energy storage and conversion. Ti3C2Tx was the first MXenes that discovered and soon become the most widely investigated among the MXenes family. Interestingly, [...] Read more.
Low dimensional transition metal carbide and nitride (MXenes) have been emerging as frontier materials for energy storage and conversion. Ti3C2Tx was the first MXenes that discovered and soon become the most widely investigated among the MXenes family. Interestingly, Ti3C2Tx exhibits ultrahigh catalytic activity towards the hydrogen evolution reaction. In addition, Ti3C2Tx is electronically conductive, and its optical bandgap is tunable in the visible region, making it become one of the most promising candidates for the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). In this review, we provide comprehensive strategies for the utilization of Ti3C2Tx as a catalyst for improving solar-driven HER, including surface functional groups engineering, structural modification, and cocatalyst coupling. In addition, the reaming obstacle for using these materials in a practical system is evaluated. Finally, the direction for the future development of these materials featuring high photocatalytic activity toward HER is discussed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Semiconductor Nanomaterials in Photocatalysis)
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