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Catalysts
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High-Efficiency Solar Photocatalytic Materials and Technical Applications
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High-Efficiency Solar Photocatalytic Materials and Technical Applications

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 August 2023) | Viewed by 6223

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Zhenyi Zhang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Key Laboratory of New Energy and Rare Earth Resource Utilization of State Ethnic Affairs Commission, Key Laboratory of Photosensitive Materials & Devices of Liaoning Province, School of Physics and Materials Engineering, Dalian Nationalities University, 18 Liaohe West Road, Dalian 116600, China
Interests: design and synthesis of low-dimensional heterostructured semiconductor materials for photoelectric functional applications, including photocatalytic water splitting, photocatalytic CO2 reduction, photocatalytic pollutant decomposition, gas sensors, humidity sensors, and so on

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Photocatalysis technology has been regarded as a promising “green” strategy for dealing with the ever-increasing global energy crisis and environmental pollution. This technology can not only convert inexhaustible solar energy into chemical fuels through splitting water into H2 or reducing CO2 into high-value hydrocarbon fuels but also mineralize organic pollutants through a photo-oxidation process. The design and development of highly efficient semiconductor photocatalysts have been at the forefront of photocatalytic technical applications, which have made much progress to date. However, several drawbacks still hinder the photocatalytic activity of single semiconductor photocatalysts, such as narrow light-absorption range, poor light utilization efficiency, rapid recombination of photoinduced charge carriers, as well as high reaction overpotential. To address these critical problems, recent research efforts have focused on the development of heterostructured semiconductor photocatalysts by combining one semiconductor with other photosensitizers, such as energy-band matchable semiconductors, plasmonic nanostructures, perovskite nanostructures, heteropolyacids, and so on. This Special Issue aims to design and develop new types of high-efficiency solar photocatalytic materials (or heterostructures) and investigate their potential applications in the fields of energy conversion, environment remediation, chemical organic synthesis, and so forth.

Kind Regards,

Prof. Dr. Zhenyi Zhang
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. 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

  • Photocatalysis
  • Water splitting
  • Hydrogen generation
  • Solar-to-fuel conversion
  • CO2 reduction
  • Pollutant degradation
  • Plasmonic photocatalysts
  • Semiconductor heterostructures

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 2486 KiB  
Article
Preparation and Photocatalytic CO Oxidation Performance Study of Au/Oxygen-Deficient (Anatase/B-Phase) TiO2 Heterojunction Microspheres
by Ze Hong, Jingying Ouyang, Jiaxin Li, Han Zheng and Ying Liu
Catalysts 2023, 13(7), 1078; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal13071078 - 07 Jul 2023
Viewed by 932
Abstract
Multi-heterojunctions are more promising than single heterojunctions in photocatalysis due to the availability of more interfaces between each component. However, photocatalytic activity is highly dependent on the contact mode of individual components. In this work, we assembled gold nanoparticles/oxygen-deficient (anatase/B-phase) TiO2 multi-heterojunction [...] Read more.
Multi-heterojunctions are more promising than single heterojunctions in photocatalysis due to the availability of more interfaces between each component. However, photocatalytic activity is highly dependent on the contact mode of individual components. In this work, we assembled gold nanoparticles/oxygen-deficient (anatase/B-phase) TiO2 multi-heterojunction microspheres using spray pyrolysis and focused on their contact mode-governed photocatalytic activity. The results reveal that using oxygen-deficient (anatase/B-phase) TiO2 microspheres as building blocks could significantly enhance the absorption of visible light and the photocatalytic activity of a gold–TiO2 system toward the photocatalytic carbon monoxide oxidation. Furthermore, loading gold nanoparticles onto B-phase TiO2 could facilitate a more prominent enhancement of activity than that of pure B-phase TiO2, benefiting from the two-electron reduction of oxygen at the interface of TiO2/Au. Meanwhile, the high crystallinity of B-phase TiO2 microspheres allows for a gold loading amount of 1 wt% in the gold/(anatase/B-phase) TiO2 system, which is 1.67 times more active than pure B-phase TiO2 microspheres, in the photocatalytic oxidation of carbon monoxide to generate carbon dioxide. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue High-Efficiency Solar Photocatalytic Materials and Technical Applications)
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11 pages, 3656 KiB  
Article
Electrospun Hollow Carbon Nanofibers Decorated with CuCo2O4 Nanowires for Oxygen Evolution Reaction
by Xinyao Ding, Jiaxu Liu, Ruibai Cang, Xin Chang and Mingyi Zhang
Catalysts 2022, 12(8), 851; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal12080851 - 02 Aug 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1557
Abstract
In recent years, spinel-type structural cobalt salts (NiCo2O4, CuCo2O4, etc.) have been widely used electrocatalysis because of their superior properties such as large crustal reserves, low cost, environmental friendliness, high electrochemical activity, abundant oxidation valence, [...] Read more.
In recent years, spinel-type structural cobalt salts (NiCo2O4, CuCo2O4, etc.) have been widely used electrocatalysis because of their superior properties such as large crustal reserves, low cost, environmental friendliness, high electrochemical activity, abundant oxidation valence, and stable chemical properties. In this paper, hollow carbon nanofibers loaded CuCo2O4 nanowires (CuCo2O4@CNFs) were prepared by electrospinning technique and solvothermal method. The CuCo2O4@CNFs exhibit enhances electrocatalytic activity for oxygen evolution reaction (OER), requiring an overpotential of 273 mV in a 1.0 M KOH solution to achieve a current density of 10 mA cm−2. In addition, the overpotential remained almost constant after 3000 cycles of voltammetry measurements. The enhanced electrocatalytic activity may be attributed to the unique one-dimensional hollow nanostructure of CNFs and high dispersion of CuCo2O4 nanowires, which enhanced the charge transfer and improved the diffusion of the electrolyte ions at the surface. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue High-Efficiency Solar Photocatalytic Materials and Technical Applications)
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14 pages, 4551 KiB  
Article
Photocatalytic Conversion of Fructose to Lactic Acid by BiOBr/Zn@SnO2 Material
by Hong-Juan Qin, Yu-Hang Zhang, Zhen Wang and Gui-Hua Yang
Catalysts 2022, 12(7), 719; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal12070719 - 30 Jun 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1350
Abstract
Photocatalysis provides a prospective approach for achieving high-value products under mild conditions. To realize this, constructing a selective, low-cost and environmentally friendly photocatalyst is the most critical factor. In this study, BiOBr/Zn@SnO2 is fabricated by a one-pot hydrothermal synthesis method and BiOBr: [...] Read more.
Photocatalysis provides a prospective approach for achieving high-value products under mild conditions. To realize this, constructing a selective, low-cost and environmentally friendly photocatalyst is the most critical factor. In this study, BiOBr/Zn@SnO2 is fabricated by a one-pot hydrothermal synthesis method and BiOBr: SnO2 ratio is 3:1; this material is applied as photocatalyst in fructose selective conversion to lactic acid. The bandgap structure can be regulated via two-step modification, which includes Zn doping SnO2 and Zn@SnO2 coupling BiOBr. The photocatalyst shows excellent conversion efficiency in fructose and high selectivity in lactic acid generation under alkaline conditions. The conversion rate is almost 100%, and the lactic acid yield is 79.6% under optimal reaction conditions. The catalyst is highly sustainable in reusability; the lactic acid yield can reach 67.4% after five runs. The possible reaction mechanism is also proposed to disclose the photocatalysis processes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue High-Efficiency Solar Photocatalytic Materials and Technical Applications)
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10 pages, 2494 KiB  
Article
A Titania-Supported Polyoxometalate and Au Cocatalyst for Efficient Photocatalytic Environmental Remediation
by Feng Lin, Yun Yang, Zhen Zhang, Nanfang Tang and Guangqi Zhu
Catalysts 2021, 11(9), 1045; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal11091045 - 28 Aug 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1702
Abstract
Photocatalysis has been considered an effective method for environmental purification and pollutant removal, with many experiments having being performed. The sustainable development of environmentally friendly materials that can photocatalytically oxidize and degrade contaminants is widely studied. Here, we report the results of the [...] Read more.
Photocatalysis has been considered an effective method for environmental purification and pollutant removal, with many experiments having being performed. The sustainable development of environmentally friendly materials that can photocatalytically oxidize and degrade contaminants is widely studied. Here, we report the results of the photocatalytic oxidation of contaminants (over 99% conversion of the contaminants was achieved) on a tri-component photocatalyst by the simultaneous decoration of Au nanoparticles and a new type of Sn-substituted Keggin structure polyoxometalate (POM) on a TiO2 semiconductor (denoted as AuPT). The light absorption and the electron–hole pair separation capacity of TiO2 was significantly ameliorated on AuPT. The synergistic effect of the Au resonance energy transfer (RET) course and the POM redox transformation can be advantageous to the efficient transmission of photogenerated electrons and holes in a way that achieves efficient photocatalytic oxidation of contaminants. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue High-Efficiency Solar Photocatalytic Materials and Technical Applications)
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