Novel NiS/CdS heterostructures with enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity were successfully prepared via a facile two-step hydrothermal process. The synthesized materials were characterized using X-ray diffraction, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. The photocatalytic activity was investigated by the degradation of quinoline un...

Copper sulfide nanotubes and nanoparticles have been successfully synthesized by a hydrothermal process at 160 °C for 10 h, employing copper chloride (CuCl2·2H2O) and thioacetamide as starting materials, polyethylene glycol 400 as surfactant. The products are characterized by X-ray power diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, UV–vis spectroscopy and fluorescence spectroscopy, respectively. ...

Hydrogen evolution from photocatalytic reduction of water holds promise as a sustainable source of carbon-free energy. Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) present an interesting new class of photoactive materials, which combine three key features relevant to the photocatalytic process, namely crystallinity, porosity and tunability. Here we synthesize a series of water- and photostable 2D azine-l...

Herein, we reported a octahedral Cd3(C3N3S3)2 coordination polymer as a new noble metal-free photocatalyst for robust photocatalytic H2O2 production from methanol/water solution. The coordination polymer can give an unprecedented H2O2 yield of ca. 110.0 mmol • L(-1) • g(-1) at pH = 2.8 under visible light illumination. The characterization results clearly revealed that the photocatalytic H2O2 p...

A simple microwave-assisted (MWI) wet chemical route to synthesize pure anatase phase titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles (NPs) is reported here using titanium tetrachloride (TiCl4) as starting material. The as-prepared TiO2 NPs were characterized by electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, UV/visible absorption spectroscopy, and infrared and Raman spectroscopic techniques. Further modificatio...

The chemical bonding of particulate photocatalysts to supporting material surfaces is of great importance in engineering more efficient and practical photocatalytic structures. However, the influence of such chemical bonding on the optical and surface properties of the photocatalyst and thus its photocatalytic activity/reaction selectivity behavior has not been systematically studied. In this i...

Photocatalytic oxidation (or photocatalysis) can be used to convert undesirable compounds present in gas or liquid samples into carbon dioxide and water. Photocatalyst materials are “self-generating”, making the process especially attractive in moderate and long-term applications where consumable materials are to be avoided (e.g., Space Shuttle cabins and in the International Space Station). Ph...

Mesoporous titanium dioxide materials were prepared using a nanocasting technique involving silica SBA-15 as the hard-template. At an optimal loading of titanium precursor, the hexagonal periodic array of pores in SBA-15 was retained. The phases of titanium dioxide could be easily varied by the number of impregnation cycles and the nature of titanium alkoxide employed. Low number of impregnatio...

Photocatalyses such as hydrogen generation from water splitting or degrading organic contaminant on photocatalysts under solar light is promising in solving current energy and environmental issues. Bismuth ferrite (BiFeO 3 ) is a newly emerging photocatalytic material in parallel with the widely used TiO 2 -based materials, and the narrow band gap (2.1-2.7 eV) of BiFeO 3 -based materials (BFO) ...

2,3-Dichloro-1,4-naphthoquinone and tetrabromoor tetrachloro-1,4-benzoquinone were converted into pyridinium enolate betaines by reaction with pyridine or 4,4′-bipyridine. The reaction conditions were applied to poly-(4-vinylpyridine) and a modified Merrifield resin to obtain functionalized polymeric materials. These were examined in thermogravimetric analyses. Reversible photocatalytic electro...