Silver chromate (Ag2CrO4) photocatalysts are prepared by microemulsion, precipitation, and hydrothermal methods, in order to investigate the effect of preparation methods on the structure and the visible-light photocatalytic activity. It is found that the photocatalytic activity of the prepared Ag2CrO4was highly dependent on the preparation methods. The sample prepared by microemulsion method e...

For TiO2 photocatalysts, recombination of photoexcited electrons and holes would occur in crystalline defects such as oxygen vacancies, Ti ions, and surface states. Therefore, it is believed that the density of crystalline defects should be decreased to improve the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 particles. Contrary to this common knowledge, the introduction of crystalline defects by hydrogen r...

Well-crystallized BiOCl nanoplates with exposed {001} facets were synthesized by a facile electrochemical anodic oxidation method. The thickness of the nanoplates decreases with increasing citric acid content in the electrolyte. The optical absorption edge of the BiOCl nanoplates shifts to a longer wavelength with citric acid. The BiOCl nanoplates obtained with citric acid show a high photocata...

With the assistance of sodium lignosulfonate, hierarchical nanoflake-array-flower nanostructure of ZnO has been fabricated by a facile precipitation method in mixed solvents. The sodium lignosulfonate amount used in our synthetic route is able to fine-tune ZnO morphology and an abundance of pores have been observed in the nanoflake-array-flower ZnO, which result in specific surface area reachin...

A novel Ag2O/TiO2-modified chitosan-based photocatalytic film with high adsorption and photocatalytic activity was synthesized under simulated solar irradiation, based upon the coupling of the synergistic catalytic technique of nano Ag2O/TiO2 and membrane separation. XRD, XPS, FESEM, and TEM characterization results illustrated that the Ag2O nanoparticles with a small size of 3–5 nm deposited o...

We propose several superiorities of applying some particular metal sulfides to the photocatalytic nitrate reduction in aqueous solution, including the high density of photogenerated excitons, high N2 selectivity (without over-reduction to ammonia). Indeed, ZnCr2S4 behaved as a highly efficient photocatalyst, and with the assistance of 1 wt% cocatalysts (RuOx, Ag, Au, Pd, or Pt), the efficiency ...

The synthesis and photocatalytic properties of a heteropolyoxoniobate, K(10)[Nb(2)O(2)(H(2)O)(2)][SiNb(12)O(40)]·12H(2)O (1), are reported, revealing an important role of Zr(4+) additives in the crystallization. Compound 1 exhibits overall photocatalytic water splitting activity, and its photocatalytic activity is significantly higher than that of Na(10)[Nb(2)O(2)][SiNb(12)O(40)]·xH(2)O (2). Fl...

Highly crystallized C-doped mesoporous anatase TiO2 is prepared using a multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) mat as both a “rigid” pore template and a carbon doping source. SEM and TEM characterization shows that the MWCNT template imposed a pore structure in reverse of that of the MWCNT mat. The pore walls are formed by chain-like interconnected TiO2 nanocrystals with an average diameter about...