The use of metal co-catalysts broadens the application of photocatalytic reduction without the use of dihydrogen (H2) gas. We examined photocatalytic hydrogenation of furan, a representative heterocyclic compound and a compound derived from biomass, in alcoholic suspensions of metal-loaded titanium(iv) oxide (TiO2) under a H2-free condition and we found that furan was almost quantitatively hydr...

A novel class of one-dimensional (1D) plasmonic Ag@Cu2O core-shell heteronanowires have been synthesized at room temperature for photocatalysis application. The morphology, size, crystal structure and composition of the products were investigated by XRD, SEM, TEM, XPS, and UV-vis instruments. It was found the reaction time and the amount of Ag nanowires play crucial roles in the formation of we...

Photocatalysis have attracted great attention due to their useful applications for sustainable hydrogen evolution and pollutants degradation. Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) such as MoS₂ and WS₂ have exhibited great potential as cocatalysts to increase the photo-activity of some semiconductors. By combination with graphene (GR), enhanced cocatalysts of TMD/GR hybrids could be synthesize...

A highly efficient novel photocatalyst consisting of nitrogen-carbon dots (N-CDs) and three-dimensional (3D) hierarchical BiOBr was synthesized via a simple ultrasonic-assisted method and used for the degradation of hazardous dyes. Deposition of N-CDs onto the surface of BiOBr was confirmed through structure and composition characterizations. The N-CDs/BiOBr composites exhibited superior activi...

For photocatalytic removal of nitric oxide (NO), two major issues need to be addressed: incomplete oxidation of NO and deactivation of the photocatalyst. In this study, we aimed to solve these two problems by constructing an all-solid-state Z-scheme heterojunction (PI-g-C3N4) consisting of g-C3N4 surface modified with perylene imides (PI). PI-g-C3N4 exhibits significant enhancement in photocata...

In recent years, BiVO4 has drawn much attention as a novel photocatalyst given its excellent ability to absorb visible light. This work reports the development of Ag-modified BiV1-xMoxO4 composites through a facile hydrothermal synthesis with the subsequent photoinduced reduction of Ag+ at almost neutral pH conditions. Metallic Ag nanoparticles were deposited on the (040) facet of Mo-doped BiVO...

p-Co₃O₄/n-TiO₂ nanoparticles (~400 nm) for photocatalysis were prepared via carbon assisted method and sol-gel method in this work. The paper also studied the application of visible light illuminated p-Co₃O₄/n-TiO₂ nanocomposites cocatalyst to the overall pure water splitting into H₂ and O₂. In addition, the H₂ evolution rate of the p-Co₃O₄/n-TiO₂ nanocomposites is 25% higher than that of the p...

Nanosized titanium dioxide (TiO2) in its anatase form is the most frequently studied and as well as used photocatalyst. There are several syntheses procedures which enable to achieve photocatalytic TiO2. The solgel method utilizing titanium alkoxides is used most often. Alternative precursors such as titanium tetrachloride and titanyl sulphate are also frequently employed. Nowadays the environm...

Graphene modified TiO₂ composite photocatalysts have drawn increasing attention because of their high performance. Some significant advancements have been achieved with the continuous research, such as the corresponding photocatalytic mechanism that has been revealed. Specific influencing factors have been discovered and potential optimizing methods are proposed. The latest developments in grap...

The challenge of safe hydrogen storage has limited the practical application of solar-driven photocatalytic water splitting. It is hard to isolate hydrogen from oxygen products during water splitting to avoid unwanted reverse reaction or explosion. Here we propose a multi-layer structure where a carbon nitride is sandwiched between two graphene sheets modified by different functional groups. Fi...