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Nanomaterials
Special Issues
Nanostructured Photocatalysts for Energy Conversion and Environmental Applications: Second Edition
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Nanostructured Photocatalysts for Energy Conversion and Environmental Applications: Second Edition

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2023) | Viewed by 4989

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Cameron Shearer

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemistry, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia
Interests: photocatalysis; nanomaterials; characterization; photovoltaics; hydrogen production; renewable energy; remediation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Sunlight is the most abundant energy source on Earth; yet, it is still underutilized in chemical synthesis. The best use of sunlight, currently, is in the field of photovoltaics, but the energy converted must be used immediately or stored in batteries.

If sunlight were used for the photocatalytic production of hydrogen by water splitting, then the converted energy would be stored in hydrogen molecules and could be stored indefinitely or transported worldwide. Photocatalysis for energy conversion is not limited to hydrogen production; it can also be applied in the conversion of any substance to a fuel, with the conversion of CO2 to hydrocarbons representing a goal of this field.

Photocatalysis can also be used in environmental remediation strategies, such as the destruction of airborne pollutants, the breakdown of industrial effluents, or the mineralization of toxic products in waterways.

With the development of high-energy LEDs with low power consumption, photocatalytic reactions may not even require sunlight for them to be more economically advantageous than such typical industrial processes as the use of high temperatures or pressures.

This Special Issue is focused on developments in photocatalysts and photocatalysis for energy conversion and environmental remediation. Submissions focused on research that addresses how to improve the efficiency and light absorption or reduce the cost of photocatalysts are welcome, along with those examining the application of photocatalysis in the production of fuels such as hydrogen or methanol, or the destruction of contaminants such as pesticides, NOx, or perfluorinated substances.

Dr. Cameron Shearer
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. Nanomaterials 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 2900 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
  • energy conversion
  • environmental remediation
  • nanomaterials
  • hydrogen production
  • organic breakdown

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 2384 KiB  
Article
Continuous Flow Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production from Water Synergistically Activated by TiO2, Gold Nanoparticles, and Carbon Nanotubes
by Joseph Farah, Florent Malloggi, Frédéric Miserque, Jongwook Kim, Edmond Gravel and Eric Doris
Nanomaterials 2023, 13(7), 1184; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano13071184 - 27 Mar 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1857
Abstract
Titanium dioxide nanoparticles were combined with carbon nanotubes and gold to develop improved photocatalysts for the production of hydrogen from water. The entangled nature of the nanotubes allowed for the integration of the photoactive hybrid catalyst, as a packed-bed, in a microfluidic photoreactor, [...] Read more.
Titanium dioxide nanoparticles were combined with carbon nanotubes and gold to develop improved photocatalysts for the production of hydrogen from water. The entangled nature of the nanotubes allowed for the integration of the photoactive hybrid catalyst, as a packed-bed, in a microfluidic photoreactor, and the chips were studied in the photocatalyzed continuous flow production of hydrogen. The combination of titanium dioxide with carbon nanotubes and gold significantly improved hydrogen production due to a synergistic effect between the multi-component system and the stabilization of the active catalytic species. The titanium dioxide/carbon nanotubes/gold system permitted a 2.5-fold increase in hydrogen production, compared to that of titanium dioxide/carbon nanotubes, and a 20-fold increase, compared to that of titanium dioxide. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanostructured Photocatalysts for Energy Conversion and Environmental Applications: Second Edition)
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41 pages, 13050 KiB  
Article
Comprehension of the Synergistic Effect between m&t-BiVO4/TiO2-NTAs Nano-Heterostructures and Oxygen Vacancy for Elevated Charge Transfer and Enhanced Photoelectrochemical Performances
by Zhufeng Shao, Jianyong Cheng, Yonglong Zhang, Yajing Peng, Libin Shi and Min Zhong
Nanomaterials 2022, 12(22), 4042; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano12224042 - 17 Nov 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1402
Abstract
Through the utilization of a facile procedure combined with anodization and hydrothermal synthesis, highly ordered alignment TiO2 nanotube arrays (TiO2-NTAs) were decorated with BiVO4 with distinctive crystallization phases of monoclinic scheelite (m-BiVO4) and tetragonal zircon (t-BiVO4 [...] Read more.
Through the utilization of a facile procedure combined with anodization and hydrothermal synthesis, highly ordered alignment TiO2 nanotube arrays (TiO2-NTAs) were decorated with BiVO4 with distinctive crystallization phases of monoclinic scheelite (m-BiVO4) and tetragonal zircon (t-BiVO4), favorably constructing different molar ratios and concentrations of oxygen vacancies (Vo) for m&t-BiVO4/TiO2-NTAs heterostructured nanohybrids. Simultaneously, the m&t-BiVO4/TiO2-NTAs nanocomposites significantly promoted photoelectrochemical (PEC) activity, tested under UV–visible light irradiation, through photocurrent density testing and electrochemical impedance spectra, which were derived from the positive synergistic effect between nanohetero-interfaces and Vo defects induced energetic charge transfer (CT). In addition, a proposed self-consistent interfacial CT mechanism and a convincing quantitative dynamic process (i.e., rate constant of CT) for m&t-BiVO4/TiO2-NTAs nanoheterojunctions are supported by time-resolved photoluminescence and nanosecond time-resolved transient photoluminescence spectra, respectively. Based on the scheme, the m&t-BiVO4/TiO2-NTAs-10 nanohybrids exhibited a photodegradation rate of 97% toward degradation of methyl orange irradiated by UV–visible light, 1.14- and 1.04-fold that of m&t-BiVO4/TiO2-NTAs-5 and m&t-BiVO4/TiO2-NTAs-20, respectively. Furthermore, the m&t-BiVO4/TiO2-NTAs-10 nanohybrids showed excellent PEC biosensing performance with a detection limit of 2.6 μM and a sensitivity of 960 mA cm−2 M−1 for the detection of glutathione. Additionally, the gas-sensing performance of m&t-BiVO4/TiO2-NTAs-10 is distinctly superior to that of m&t-BiVO4/TiO2-NTAs-5 and m&t-BiVO4/TiO2-NTAs-20 in terms of sensitivity and response speed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanostructured Photocatalysts for Energy Conversion and Environmental Applications: Second Edition)
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13 pages, 6302 KiB  
Article
Graphene Bridge for Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution with Gold Nanocluster Co-Catalysts
by Hanieh Mousavi, Thomas D. Small, Shailendra K. Sharma, Vladimir B. Golovko, Cameron J. Shearer and Gregory F. Metha
Nanomaterials 2022, 12(20), 3638; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano12203638 - 17 Oct 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1418
Abstract
Herein, the UV light photocatalytic activity of an Au101NC-AlSrTiO3-rGO nanocomposite comprising 1 wt% rGO, 0.05 wt% Au101(PPh3)21Cl5 (Au101NC), and AlSrTiO3 evaluated for H2 production. The synthesis of Au [...] Read more.
Herein, the UV light photocatalytic activity of an Au101NC-AlSrTiO3-rGO nanocomposite comprising 1 wt% rGO, 0.05 wt% Au101(PPh3)21Cl5 (Au101NC), and AlSrTiO3 evaluated for H2 production. The synthesis of Au101NC-AlSrTiO3-rGO nanocomposite followed two distinct routes: (1) Au101NC was first mixed with AlSrTiO3 followed by the addition of rGO (Au101NC-AlSrTiO3:rGO) and (2) Au101NC was first mixed with rGO followed by the addition of AlSrTiO3 (Au101NC-rGO:AlSrTiO3). Both prepared samples were annealed in air at 210 °C for 15 min. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and high-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy showed that the Au101NC adhered almost exclusively to the rGO in the nanocomposite and maintained a size less than 2 nm. Under UV light irradiation, the Au101NC-AlSrTiO3:rGO nanocomposite produced H2 at a rate 12 times greater than Au101NC-AlSrTiO3 and 64 times greater than AlSrTiO3. The enhanced photocatalytic activity is attributed to the small particle size and high loading of Au101NC, which is achieved by non-covalent binding to rGO. These results show that significant improvements can be made to AlSrTiO3-based photocatalysts that use cluster co-catalysts by the addition of rGO as an electron mediator to achieve high cluster loading and limited agglomeration of the clusters. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanostructured Photocatalysts for Energy Conversion and Environmental Applications: Second Edition)
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