The absorption ability and photocatalytic activity of photocatalytic materials play important roles in improving the pollutants removal effects. Herein, we reported a new kind of photocatalytic material, which was synthesized by simultaneously designing hierarchical porous magnesian (PM) substrate and TiO2 catalyst modification. Particularly, PM substrate could be facilely prepared by controlli...

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and formaldehyde are ubiquitous in indoor environment. 16 Inhalation of VOCs can cause irritations, difficulty breathing, and nausea, and damage the central 17 nervous system as well as other organs. Formaldehyde is even a carcinogen. Removal of VOCs and 18 formaldehyde is thus critical to control indoor air quality (IAQ). Photocatalytic oxidation has been 19 d...

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are ubiquitous in indoor environments. Inhalation of VOCs can cause irritation, difficulty breathing, and nausea, and damage the central nervous system as well as other organs. Formaldehyde is a particularly important VOC as it is even a carcinogen. Removal of VOCs is thus critical to control indoor air quality (IAQ). Photocatalytic oxidation has demonstrated f...

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...

In recent years, photocatalytico oxidation processes with ultra violet (UV) radiation and semiconductor photocatalyst like titanium dioxide (TiO2) and zinc oxide (ZnO) have gained immense research interest as an effective wastewater purification method because of its efficacy in decomposing and mineralising the hazardous organic pollutants as well as the opportunity of utilizing the solar UV an...

Photo-excitation of certain semiconductors can lead to the production of reactive oxygen species that can inactivate microorganisms. The mechanisms involved are reviewed, along with two important applications. The first is the use of photocatalysis to enhance the solar disinfection of water. It is estimated that 750 million people do not have accessed to an improved source for drinking and many...

We demonstrate ultrathin self-assembled Cu2MoS4 nanobelts synthesized by using Cu2O as the starting sacrificial template via a hydrothermal method. The nanobelts exhibit strong light absorption over a broad wavelength spectrum, suggesting their potential application as photocatalysts. The photocatalytic activity of nanobelts is evaluated by the degradation of Methyl Orange (MO) dye under visibl...

Due to the good photocatalytic activity, the TiO2@CNTs thin film is highly desirable to apply to the self-cleaning glass for green intelligent building. Here, the TiO2@CNTs thin film has been successfully achieved by polymer-assisted approach of an aqueous chemical solution method. The polymer, polyethylenimine, aims to combine the Ti4+ with CNTs for film formation of TiO2@CNTs. The resultant t...

The photocatalytic efficiency of a thin-film TiO2-coated nanostructured template is studied by dye degradation in water. The nanostructured template was synthesized by metal-assisted wet etching of Si and used as substrate for the deposition of a thin film of TiO2 (10 nm thick) by atomic layer deposition. A complete structural characterization was made by scanning and transmission electron micr...

Several photocatalytic nanoparticles are synthesized and studied for potential application for the degradation of organic and biological wastes. Although these materials degrade organic compounds by advance oxidation process, the exact mechanisms of microbial decontamination remains partially known. Understanding the real mechanisms of these materials for microbial cell death and growth inhibit...