Nowadays, underground water is the main source of drinking water that contamination to organic pollutants such as MTBE is an important issue. One of the suitable methods for these types of pollutants is the advanced oxidation methods. Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) are involved in the production of highly reactive hydroxyl radicals that oxidize organic matter such as MTBE and even le...

The present study examined the gas-phase photocatalytic degradation of toluene using ZnO-SnO2 nanocomposite supported on activated carbon in a photocatalytic reactor. Toluene was selected as a model pollutant from volatile organic compounds to determine the pathway of photocatalytic degradation and the factors influencing this degradation. The ZnO-SnO2 nanocomposite was synthesized through co-p...

Semiconductor photocatalysts have attracted increased attention due to their great potential for solving energy and environmental problems. The formation of Z-scheme photocatalytic systems that mimic natural photosynthesis is a promising strategy to improve photocatalytic activity that is superior to single component photocatalysts. The connection between photosystem I (PS I) and photosystem II...

A photocatalyst is defined as a substance which is activated by adsorbing a photon and is capable of accelerating a reaction without being consumed [1]. These substances are invaria‐ bly semiconductors. Semiconducting oxide photocatalysts have been increasingly focused in recent years due to their potential applications in solar energy conversion and environmen‐ tal purification. Semiconductor ...

In this work, the effect of addition iridium on TiO2 and Nb2O5 supports obtained by wet impregnation method was evaluated in photocatalytic degradation 2,4-dichlorophenoxiacetic acid under UV irradiation. The synthetized materials were analyzed different techniques order to determinate their physicochemical properties. general, it observed that modifies surface area, band gap energy enhances cr...

It is known that TiO2 exhibits good photocatalytic properties which could be used in various commercial applications such as water and air purification or photo-induced biodegradation of microbes. TiO2 occurs in nature in the form of three crystal polymorphs: anatase, brookite and rutile. For photocatalytic applications only anatase and rutile are of interest, however anatase shows greater phot...

A novel heterostructure was first synthesized by directly depositing photocatalytic inert ZnO2 onto facet {201} of brookite nanorods. The heterostructure thus obtained was found to show a superior photocatalytic activity under UV-light irradiation. The exceptional photocatalytic performance was due to the band-structure match between ZnO2 and brookite as well as synergic charge accumulation by ...

Preparation of carbon coated FeWO4 was carried out by heat treatment of WO2.9 with iron acetate at 400 o C, followed by carbonization with poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) as carbon precursor at 800 o C in N2 atmosphere. The powders mainly consist of FeWO4. The photocatalytic activities of their samples were confirmed by phenol photodecomposition in its aqueous solution. Carbon coated FeWO4 powders re...

To investigate the effect of Gd doping on photocatalytic activity of BiFeO3 (BFO), Gd-doped BFO nanoparticles containing different Gd doping contents (Bi(1-x)GdxFeO3, x = 0.00, 0.01, 0.03, 0.05) were synthesized using a facile sol-gel route. The obtained products were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectra,...

The facet-engineered surface and interface design for photocatalytic materials has been proven as a versatile approach to enhance their photocatalytic performance. This review article encompasses some recent advances in the facet engineering that has been performed to control the surface of mono-component semiconductor systems and to design the surface and interface structures of multi-componen...