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Special Issue "Catalytic and Functional Materials for Environment and Energy"

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A special issue of Catalysts (ISSN 2073-4344). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Catalysis".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2020).

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Dr. Jerry J. Wu
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Department of Environmental Engineering and Science, Feng Chia University, Taichung, Taiwan
Interests: catalysis; catalytic process; environmental remediation; functional nanomaterials
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue will intentionally provide the latest advances and progresses in functional nanomaterials that may apply to environmental remediation and energy issues. It aims to promote an interdisciplinary understanding in the environmental and energy fields by using different nanomaterials, such as metal oxides, metal non-oxides, and polymer-based hybrids. In addition, the photocatalysis process has played an important role in degrading environmental micropollutants and converting carbon dioxide into useful fuels. Thus, original research papers or short reviews on the material synthesis, application of environment and photocatalysis, and catalytic energy-related issues are welcome for submission in this Special Issue.

Dr. Jerry J. Wu
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 papers will be 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 2000 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

Functional materials
Photocatalytic processes
Catalytic energy
Hydrogen production
Carbon dioxide conversion
Renewable fuels

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

Open AccessArticle

Microwave-Assisted Solvothermal Synthesis of Chalcogenide Composite Photocatalyst and Its Photocatalytic CO₂ Reduction Activity under Simulated Solar Light

and

Catalysts 2020, 10(7), 789; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal10070789 - 15 Jul 2020

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 556

Abstract

A novel heterostructure consisting of Ru and Cu co-doped ZnS nanopowders (RCZS) into a MoS₂-graphene hybrid (MSG) is successfully prepared by the microwave-assisted solvothermal approach. RCZS nanopowders are fabricated on the surface of MSG, which produces a nanoscale interfacial between RCZS and MSG. As the photo-excited electrons of RCZS can easily migrate to MoS₂ through graphene by hindering the electron and hole (e^– and h⁺) recombination, the photocatalytic activity could be improved by effective charge transfer. As RCZS are anchored onto the MSG, the photoluminescence intensity of the chalcogenide composite photocatalyst obviously decreases. In addition, a quaternary ruthenium and copper-based chalcogenide RCZS/MSG is able to improve the harvest and utilization of light. With the increase in the concentrations of Ru until 4 mol%, the band gap significantly decreases from 3.52 to 2.73 eV. At the same time, moderate modification by ruthenium can decrease the PL intensity compared to the pristine CZS/MSG sample, which indicates the enhancement of e^– and h⁺ separation by Ru addition. The photocatalytic activity of as-synthesized chalcogenide composite photocatalysts is evaluated by the photocatalytic carbon dioxide reduction. Optimized operation conditions for carbon dioxide reduction have been performed, including the concentration of NaOH solution, the amount of RCZS/MSG photocatalyst, and the content of co-doped ruthenium. The doping of ruthenium would efficiently improve the performance of the photocatalytic activity for carbon dioxide reduction. The optimal conditions, such as the concentration of 2 M NaOH and the 0.5RCZS/MSG dosage of 0.05 g L^–1, provide the maximum methane gas yield of 58.6 μmol h⁻¹ g^–1. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Catalytic and Functional Materials for Environment and Energy)

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Open AccessArticle

Preparation and Photocatalytic Properties of Heterostructured Ceria/Polyaniline Nanoparticles

and

Catalysts 2020, 10(7), 732; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal10070732 - 02 Jul 2020

Viewed by 545

Abstract

Cerium dioxide (CeO₂, ceria), a promising and abundant catalytic material with high-efficiency, nontoxicity, photochemical stability, and affordability, can be used as a photocatalyst to photocatalytically degrade organics and split water for hydrogen production under ultraviolet (UV) irradiation (about 5% of solar energy). However, the applications of the CeO₂ photocatalyst are limited due to low photocatalytic efficiency under sunlight irradiation. In this study, a nanosized CeO₂ powder was prepared by the precipitation method. Subsequently, various amounts of polyaniline (PANI) nanoparticles were deposited onto the surface of the CeO₂ nanoparticles to form a heterostructure by the polymerization method. The crystal structure, morphology, surface and optical properties of the CeO₂/PANI nanoparticles were investigated by X-ray diffractometry (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) absorption spectroscopy, and photoluminescence (PL). Experimental results demonstrated that PANI deposition improved the light absorption of CeO₂ nanoparticles in the visible light region. The heterostructured CeO₂/PANI nanoparticle with 4 wt % PANI deposition exhibited optimal photocatalytic activities with a hydrogen production rate of 462 μmolg⁻¹ within 6 h and a methyl orange (MO) degradation rate of 45% within 4 h under visible light irradiation. The photocatalytic mechanisms of the composite powder are also proposed in this report. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Catalytic and Functional Materials for Environment and Energy)

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Open AccessArticle

Synthesis of Hydroxy Sodalite from Coal Fly Ash for Biodiesel Production from Waste-Derived Maggot Oil

Juvet Malonda Shabani

Omotola Babajide

Oluwaseun Oyekola

and

Leslie Petrik

Catalysts 2019, 9(12), 1052; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal9121052 - 11 Dec 2019

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 913

Abstract

Zeolites are aluminosilicate crystalline materials known for their unique characteristics, and have been prominent for nearly half a century due to their wide and important industrial applications. The production of zeolites, however, remains a challenge due to the high cost of commercial reagents conventionally used as feedstocks. In the current study, hydroxy sodalite (HS) zeolite samples were synthesised from coal fly ash feedstock by a direct hydrothermal synthesis method. The effects of hydrothermal crystallisation synthesis time on phase crystallinity, crystal size, and morphology of the formed HS were investigated. The prepared samples were characterised using XRD, SEM, EDS and FT-IR techniques. The XRD results of the samples prepared with varying synthesis times confirmed the formation of HS from low to high phase purity and crystallinity from 11 to over 98%. The SEM results reflected gradual variation in crystal morphology, of which highly crystalline HS samples were associated with hexagonal-cubic and cubic-platelet crystals. The FTIR, depicting zeolite characteristics of T–O and T–O–T stretching vibrations in the molecular framework, further confirmed the formation of HS zeolites for samples obtained above the 24-h synthesis time. These zeolite samples were then evaluated for their catalytic activities in the conversion of maggot oil to biodiesel. The application of the various hydroxy sodalite samples for the transesterification of maggot oil yielded up to 84.10% biodiesel (FAME) with physicochemical properties that were in compliance with the biodiesel specification standards. This study investigated the novel use of a coal fly ash-derived, heterogeneous HS catalyst in biodiesel production from maggot oil, and indicates its potential to enhance biodiesel yield and quality upon process optimisation tests. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Catalytic and Functional Materials for Environment and Energy)

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