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Catalysts
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Advances in Solar- and Visible-Light Photocatalysis
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Advances in Solar- and Visible-Light Photocatalysis

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2023) | Viewed by 21995

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Raphaël Schneider

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
LRGP, Université de Lorraine, 1 Rue Grandville, BP 20451, 54001 Nancy, France
Interests: catalysis; quantum dots; imaging; sensing; ZnO films
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Over the past thirty years, photocatalysis has become a very important scientific field due to its numerous technological applications. Photocatalysis is not only a clean technology for decomposing harmful compounds, but it can also be used for converting the energy of sunlight into hydrogen or for enabling the reduction of carbon dioxide.

This Special Issue is devoted to all topics related to the preparation of photocatalysts and their applications.

Topics include, but are not limited to:

  • Photocatalyst engineering;
  • Nanotechnologies for water, air, and soil remediation;
  • Structural properties of photocatalysts;
  • Growth and assembly techniques;
  • Surface properties;
  • Solar energy applications;
  • Visible light active photocatalysts;
  • Water splitting;
  • Carbon dioxide reduction.

Prof. Raphaël Schneider
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

  • photocatalyst engineering
  • nanotechnologies for water, air, and soil remediation
  • structural properties of photocatalysts
  • growth and assembly techniques
  • surface properties
  • solar energy applications
  • visible light active photocatalysts
  • water splitting
  • carbon dioxide reduction

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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18 pages, 1876 KiB  
Article
Comparison of Electrospun Titania and Zinc Oxide Nanofibers for Perovskite Solar Cells and Photocatalytic Degradation of Methyl Orange Dye
by Zafar Arshad, Mumtaz Ali, Eui-Jong Lee, Mubark Alshareef, Marwah M. Alsowayigh, Kinza Shahid, Raghisa Shahid and Kang Hoon Lee
Catalysts 2023, 13(7), 1062; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal13071062 - 30 Jun 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1516
Abstract
ZnO and TiO2 are both well-known electron transport materials; however, an exact comparison of their performance, when fabricated under the same synthesis conditions, is missing in the literature. Considering this, we introduced a viable electrospinning route for the development of highly polycrystalline [...] Read more.
ZnO and TiO2 are both well-known electron transport materials; however, an exact comparison of their performance, when fabricated under the same synthesis conditions, is missing in the literature. Considering this, we introduced a viable electrospinning route for the development of highly polycrystalline TiO2 and ZnO nanofibers for an electron transport material (ETM) of perovskite solar cells and photocatalysts for textiles. Thanks to the effective tuning of band structure and morphology of TiO2, a significant improvement in performance as compared to ZnO was observed when both were used as photoanodes and photocatalysts. X-ray diffraction detected polycrystalline structural properties and showed that peaks are highly corresponding to TiO2 and ZnO. Morphological analysis was carried out with a scanning electron microscope, which revealed that nanofibers are long, uniform, and polycrystalline, having diameter in the nano regime. TiO2 nanofibers are more aligned and electron-supportive for conduction as compared to ZnO nanofibers, which are dense and agglomerated at some points. Optoelectronic properties showed that TiO2 and ZnO show absorption values in the range of ultraviolet, and visible range and band gap values for TiO2 and ZnO were 3.3 and 3.2 eV, respectively. The TiO2 band gap and semiconductor nature was more compatible for ETL as compared to ZnO. Electrical studies revealed that TiO2 nanofibers have enhanced values of conductivity and sheet carrier mobility as compared to ZnO nanofibers. Therefore, a higher photovoltaic conversion efficiency and antibacterial activity was achieved for TiO2 nanofibers (10.33%), as compared to ZnO (8.48%). In addition, the antibacterial activity of TiO2 was also recorded as better than ZnO. Similarly, compared to ZnO nanofibers, TiO2 nanofibers possess enhanced photoactivity for antimicrobial and dye degradation effects when applied to fabrics. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Solar- and Visible-Light Photocatalysis)
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13 pages, 5079 KiB  
Article
Heterostructured Photocatalysts Associating ZnO Nanorods and Ag-In-Zn-S Quantum Dots for the Visible Light-Driven Photocatalytic Degradation of the Acid Orange 7 Dye
by Maroua Mrad, Bilel Chouchene, Tahar Ben Chaabane, Thomas Gries, Ghouti Medjahdi, Lavinia Balan and Raphaël Schneider
Catalysts 2022, 12(12), 1585; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal12121585 - 06 Dec 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1704
Abstract
Heterostructured photocatalysts associating ZnO nanorods (NRs) sensitized by quaternary Ag-In-Zn-S (AIZS) quantum dots (QDs) were prepared by depositing AIZS QDs at the surface of ZnO NRs followed by thermal treatment at 300 °C. The ZnO/AIZS catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, [...] Read more.
Heterostructured photocatalysts associating ZnO nanorods (NRs) sensitized by quaternary Ag-In-Zn-S (AIZS) quantum dots (QDs) were prepared by depositing AIZS QDs at the surface of ZnO NRs followed by thermal treatment at 300 °C. The ZnO/AIZS catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, UV-vis diffuse spectroscopy and by photoelectrochemical measurements. Their photocatalytic activity was evaluated for the bleaching of the Acid Orange 7 (AO7) dye under visible light irradiation. Results show that the association of ZnO NRs with 10 wt% AIZS QDs affords the photocatalyst the highest activity due to the enhanced visible light absorption combined with the improved charge separation. The ZnO/AIZS(10) photocatalyst degrades 98% AO7 in 90 min under visible light illumination, while ZnO NRs can only decompose 11% of the dye. The ZnO/AIZS(10) photocatalyst was also found to be stable and can be reused up to eight times without significant alteration of its activity. This work demonstrates the high potential of AIZS QDs for the development of visible light active photocatalysts. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Solar- and Visible-Light Photocatalysis)
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16 pages, 3373 KiB  
Article
Rendering Visible-Light Photocatalytic Activity to Undoped ZnO via Intrinsic Defects Engineering
by Lan-li Chen, Bao-gai Zhai and Yuan Ming Huang
Catalysts 2020, 10(10), 1163; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal10101163 - 11 Oct 2020
Cited by 22 | Viewed by 2358
Abstract
It is significant to render visible-light photocatalytic activity to undoped ZnO nanostructures via intrinsic defect engineering. In this work, undoped ZnO nanocrystals were derived via co-precipitation synthesis. The resulting ZnO nanocrystals were characterized by means of X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, photoluminescence spectroscopy, [...] Read more.
It is significant to render visible-light photocatalytic activity to undoped ZnO nanostructures via intrinsic defect engineering. In this work, undoped ZnO nanocrystals were derived via co-precipitation synthesis. The resulting ZnO nanocrystals were characterized by means of X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, photoluminescence spectroscopy, and ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy, respectively. The visible-light photocatalytic activity of the products were characterized by monitoring the decomposition of methyl orange in water under visible-light illumination of a 300 W halogen lamp. It is found that undoped ZnO nanocrystals exhibit visible-light photocatalytic activity with their first-order rate constant up to 4.6 × 10−3 min−1. Density functional calculations show that oxygen vacancies create deep energy levels at EV + 0.76 eV in the bandgap of ZnO. In conjunction with the density functional calculations, the photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange under visible-light irradiation provides direct evidence that oxygen vacancies in ZnO nanocrystals yield the visible-light photocatalytic activity. Our results demonstrate that visible-light photocatalytic activity can be endowed to undoped ZnO nanocrystals by manipulating the intrinsic defects in ZnO. Intrinsic defect-modulated ZnO photocatalysts thus represent a powerful configuration for further development toward visible-light responsive photocatalysis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Solar- and Visible-Light Photocatalysis)
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19 pages, 4988 KiB  
Article
Carbon Dioxide Photoreduction on the Bi2S3/MoS2 Catalyst
by Raeyeong Kim, Junyeong Kim, Jeong Yeon Do, Myung Won Seo and Misook Kang
Catalysts 2019, 9(12), 998; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal9120998 - 27 Nov 2019
Cited by 41 | Viewed by 4016
Abstract
The photocatalytic activity of a material is contingent on efficient light absorption, fast electron excitation, and control of the recombination rate by effective charge separation. Inorganic materials manufactured in unique shapes via controlled synthesis can exhibit significantly improved properties. Here, n-type Bi2 [...] Read more.
The photocatalytic activity of a material is contingent on efficient light absorption, fast electron excitation, and control of the recombination rate by effective charge separation. Inorganic materials manufactured in unique shapes via controlled synthesis can exhibit significantly improved properties. Here, n-type Bi2S3 nanorods (with good optical activity) were wrapped with two-dimensional (2D) p-type MoS2 sheets, which have good light absorption properties. The designed p-n junction Bi2S3/MoS2 composite exhibited enhanced light absorption over the entire wavelength range, and higher carbon dioxide adsorption capacity and photocurrent density compared to the single catalysts. Consequently, the activity of the 1Bi2S3/1MoS2 composite catalyst for the photocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide was more than 20 times higher than that of the single catalysts under visible-light irradiation at ≤400 nm, with partial selectivity for CO conversion. This is attributed to the p-n heterojunction Bi2S3/MoS2 composite designed in this study, the high light absorption of n-Bi2S3, accelerated electron excitation, and the electron affinity of the 2D sheet-p-MoS2, which quickly absorbed excited electrons, resulting in effective charge separation. This ultimately improved the catalytic performance by continuously supplying catalytically active sites to the heterojunction interfaces. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Solar- and Visible-Light Photocatalysis)
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Review

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30 pages, 8557 KiB  
Review
A Review on Quantum Dots Modified g-C3N4-Based Photocatalysts with Improved Photocatalytic Activity
by Yanling Chen and Xue Bai
Catalysts 2020, 10(1), 142; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal10010142 - 20 Jan 2020
Cited by 97 | Viewed by 11604
Abstract
In the 21st century, the development of sustainable energy and advanced technologies to cope with energy shortages and environmental pollution has become vital. Semiconductor photocatalysis is a promising technology that can directly convert solar energy to chemical energy and is extensively used for [...] Read more.
In the 21st century, the development of sustainable energy and advanced technologies to cope with energy shortages and environmental pollution has become vital. Semiconductor photocatalysis is a promising technology that can directly convert solar energy to chemical energy and is extensively used for its environmentally-friendly properties. In the field of photocatalysis, graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) has obtained increasing interest due to its unique physicochemical properties. Therefore, numerous researchers have attempted to integrate quantum dots (QDs) with g-C3N4 to optimize the photocatalytic activity. In this review, recent progress in combining g-C3N4 with QDs for synthesizing new photocatalysts was introduced. The methods of QDs/g-C3N4-based photocatalysts synthesis are summarized. Recent studies assessing the application of photocatalytic performance and mechanism of modification of g-C3N4 with carbon quantum dots (CQDs), graphene quantum dots (GQDs), and g-C3N4 QDs are herein discussed. Lastly, challenges and future perspectives of QDs modified g-C3N4-based photocatalysts in photocatalytic applications are discussed. We hope that this review will provide a valuable overview and insight for the promotion of applications of QDs modified g-C3N4 based-photocatalysts. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Solar- and Visible-Light Photocatalysis)
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