Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Jason Anthony Scott

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Particles and Catalysis Research Group, School of Chemical Engineering, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
Interests: catalysis and mechanisms of reactions; photocatalysis; energy generation; conversion and storage engineering; chemical engineering

Dr. Emma C. Lovell

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Particles and Catalysis Research Laboratary, School of Chemical Engineering, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
Interests: chemical engineering; catalyst; mesoporous materials; nanomaterials synthesis; carbon dioxide
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

With the ongoing push for heterogeneous catalysis to become more sustainable, the utilisation of an energy input which offsets conventional thermal heating is a subject of growing significance. Light represents one such alternative which can be exploited to either directly heat the catalyst (photothermal) or assist with improving catalytic activity/selectivity (photo-and-thermal). Employing light in this way opens the door for concentrated sunlight to contribute to driving heterogeneous catalytic reactions, in turn upgrading system sustainability. To ensure that the benefits of the incident light are effectively accessed, catalyst material design requires re-evaluation. This can be in the form of creating catalysts and catalyst supports which can harness a greater portion of the solar spectrum, utilise incident light to boost activity and/or drive selectivity towards more favourable products.

This Special Issue will address recent research in the field of materials development for light-assisted heterogeneous catalysis, where the light acts either directly as the heat source (photothermal) or complements the thermal provision of heat (photo-and-thermal). It is distinct from photocatalysis, as catalytic activity does not rely solely on the semiconducting properties of the support. The Editors welcome articles on light-absorbing (for heating purposes) catalysts/supports, plasmonic catalysts and other catalyst systems which function using combined light and thermal inputs. There are no restrictions to the nature of the catalyst preparation method nor the reaction to which the catalyst is applied.

Dr. Jason Anthony Scott
Dr. Emma C. Lovell
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. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2600 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

heterogeneous catalysis
photothermal
photo-and-thermal
plasmonic
solar
illumination
light-assisted

Published Papers (2 papers)

Download All Papers

Research

Jump to: Review

14 pages, 2431 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Plasma-Induced Catalyst Support Defects for the Photothermal Methanation of Carbon Dioxide

by Salina Jantarang, Simone Ligori, Jonathan Horlyck, Emma C. Lovell, Tze Hao Tan, Bingqiao Xie, Rose Amal and Jason Scott

Materials 2021, 14(15), 4195; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14154195 - 28 Jul 2021

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2238

Abstract

The presence of defects in a catalyst support is known to benefit catalytic activity. In this work, a He-plasma treatment-based strategy for introducing and stabilising defects on a Ni/TiO₂ catalyst for photothermal CO₂ hydrogenation was established. The impact of pretreatment step sequence—which comprised He-plasma treatment and reduction/passivation—on defect generation and stabilisation within the support was evaluated. Characterisation of the Ni/TiO₂ catalysts indicated that defects created in the TiO₂ support during the initial plasma treatment stage were then stabilised by the reduction/passivation process, (P-R)Ni/TiO₂. Conversely, performing reduction/passivation first, (R-P)Ni/TiO₂, invoked a resistance to subsequent defect formation upon plasma treatment and consequently, poorer photothermal catalytic activity. The plasma treatment altered the metal-support interaction and ease of catalyst reduction. Under photothermal conditions, (P-R)Ni/TiO₂ reached the highest methane production in 75 min, while (R-P)Ni/TiO₂ required 165 min. Decoupling the impacts of light and heat indicated thermal dominance of the reaction with CO₂ conversion observed from 200 °C onwards. Methane was the primary product with carbon monoxide detected at 350 °C (~2%) and 400 °C (~5%). Overall, the findings demonstrate the importance of pretreatment step sequence when utilising plasma treatment to generate active defect sites in a catalyst support. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Materials for Light-Assisted Catalytic Reactions)

► Show Figures

Graphical abstract

Review

Jump to: Research

35 pages, 5367 KiB

Open AccessReview

Photocatalytic Technology for Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) Wastewater Treatment: Current Progress and Future Perspective

by Wibawa Hendra Saputera, Aryan Fathoni Amri, Rahman Daiyan and Dwiwahju Sasongko

Materials 2021, 14(11), 2846; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14112846 - 26 May 2021

Cited by 19 | Viewed by 4466

Abstract

The palm oil industry produces liquid waste called POME (palm oil mill effluent). POME is stated as one of the wastes that are difficult to handle because of its large production and ineffective treatment. It will disturb the ecosystem with a high organic matter content if the waste is disposed directly into the environment. The authorities have established policies and regulations in the POME waste quality standard before being discharged into the environment. However, at this time, there are still many factories in Indonesia that have not been able to meet the standard of POME waste disposal with the existing treatment technology. Currently, the POME treatment system is still using a conventional system known as an open pond system. Although this process can reduce pollutants’ concentration, it will produce much sludge, requiring a large pond area and a long processing time. To overcome the inability of the conventional system to process POME is believed to be a challenge. Extensive effort is being invested in developing alternative technologies for the POME waste treatment to reduce POME waste safely. Several technologies have been studied, such as anaerobic processes, membrane technology, advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), membrane technology, adsorption, steam reforming, and coagulation. Among other things, an AOP, namely photocatalytic technology, has the potential to treat POME waste. This paper provides information on the feasibility of photocatalytic technology for treating POME waste. Although there are some challenges in this technology’s large-scale application, this paper proposes several strategies and directions to overcome these challenges. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Materials for Light-Assisted Catalytic Reactions)

► Show Figures