In recent years, semiconductor photocatalytic process has shown a great potential as a low-cost, environmental friendly and sustainable treatment technology to align with the "zero" waste scheme in the water/wastewater industry. The ability of this advanced oxidation technology has been widely demonstrated to remove persistent organic compounds and microorganisms in water. At present, the main ...

Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) have proved very effective in treatment of the various hazardous organic pollutants in water. The photocatalytic degradation of two azo dyes, monoazo dye Acid Orange 10 (AO10) and diazo dye Acid Red114(AR114) present in wastewater were studied. Homogeneous photocatalytic degradation of the two azo dyes with UV/H2O2 process was investigated. The rates of disap...

TiO2 nanoparticles, as a photocatalyst for oxidation of dimethyl methylphosphonate (DMMP) as an organophosphorus simulant of chemical warfare agent, were prepared by using sol-gel method. The prepared nanoparticles were then modified with transition metals in order to decrease the electron-hole recombination and increase the photocatalytic activity. Transition metal ions including Pt...

δ-MnO2/o-MWCNTs were synthesized by coating MnO2 spontaneously on oxidized multi-walled carbon nanotubes via simple immersion of the o-MWCNTs into KMnO4 solution. This catalyst comprising the outer region of catalytic MnO2 and the inner region of highly conductive o-MWCNTs enhanced photocatalytic water oxidation activity.

In this short account, we have focused on the methodology for the single-molecule detection of reactive oxygen species (ROS), such as hydroxyl radical (HO) and singlet oxygen (O2), using a total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy (TIRFM). A successful application using the single-molecule fluorescence techniques for the investigation of the TiO2 photocatalytic oxidation reactions is br...

Silicon nanowires (SiNWs) have been widely explored as light harvesting antenna in photocatalysts due to their ability to absorb broad solar spectrum, but are typically limited by poor photoelectrochemical stability. Here we report the synthesis of reduced graphene oxide-SiNW (rGO-SiNW) heterostructures to achieve greatly improved photocatalytic activity and stability. The SiNWs were synthesize...

A new and facile assay for hydroxyl radicals in photocatalytic systems is reported for the first time that is based on the fluorescence imaging of increasing hydrophilic regions through the highly selective hydroxyl radical-induced lateral remote oxidation of superhydrophobic 1-octadecanethiol molecules at gold flower-like surface in the designed photomask setup.

Hybrid photocatalysts consisting of single crystalline BiFeO3 nanowires and laser ablated Au nanoparticles were synthesized by a functionalization-step-free solution process. The 1.0 wt% Au nanoparticle decorated BiFeO3 nanowires exhibit ~30 times higher photocatalytic activity for water oxidation than that exhibited by the parent wires during the first 4 h.