Recyclability is an important aspect for heterogeneous photo-catalysts. Ease of recovery and stability of the photo-catalyst in terms of efficiency over the number of cycles are highly desired and in fact it is ideal if the efficiency is constant and it should not decrease marginally with each cycle. Presented here is a seminal observation in which the photocatalytic activity is shown to improv...

The fabrication of functional metamaterials with extreme feature resolution finds a host of applications such as the broad area of surface/light interaction. Nonplanar features of such structures can significantly enhance their performance and tunability, but their facile generation remains a challenge. Here, we show that carefully designed out-of-plane nanopillars made of metal-dielectric comp...

AM-6 with high intensity visible light absorption at 400-800 nm was synthesized via a hydrothermal route in the presence of F(-) ions. Structure characterization and DFT calculations indicate that the unusual optical properties originate from the connection of octahedral VO(6) wires with distorted tetrahedral VO(4) units, which are stabilized in the framework of AM-6.

We theoretically and experimentally demonstrate that carbon self-doping could induce intrinsic electronic and band structure change of g-C(3)N(4)via the formation of delocalized big π bonds to increase visible light absorption and electrical conductivity as well as surface area and thus enhance both photooxidation and photoreduction activities.

A new mechanism for enhancing the visible light absorption of a homogeneous polyoxovanadate system is described. The photoactive pentanuclear {V(5)} isopolyoxovanadate cluster is formed in situ by a thermally-induced condensation reaction starting from a tetranuclear {V(4)} precursor. Upon irradiation with visible light, {V(5)} undergoes a light induced reduction reaction resulting in the forma...

Carbon nanotubes feature excellent electronic properties but narrow absorption bands limit their utility in certain optoelectronic devices, including photovoltaic cells. Here, the addition of a wide-bandgap gap oligomer enhances light absorption in the visible spectrum. Furthermore, the oligomer interacts with the carbon nanotube through a peculiar charge transfer, which provides insight into T...

The electronic and optical properties of the rare earth metal atom-doped anatase TiO₂ have been investigated systematically via density functional theory calculations. The results show that TiO₂ doped by Ce or Pr is the optimal choice because of its small band gap and strong optical absorption. Rare earth metal atom doping induces several impurity states that tune the location of valence and co...

HIGHLIGHTS A facial method was used to fabricate BiOI/BiOCl film at room temperature.30% BiOI/BiOCl showed an excellent photocatalytic activity and stability.Improvement of photocatalytic activity was owed to expanded visible light absorption and high separation efficiency of charge. Photocatalysis has been considered to be one of the most promising ways to photodegrade organic pollutants. Here...

Considering light absorption by narrowing the band gap and gas capture by the mesostructure and basicity of material, an efficient artificial photosynthesis system was constructed based on a mesoporous ZnAl(2)O(4)-modified ZnGaNO photocatalyst.

Three-dimensional (3D) TiO2 with an acanthosphere-like morphology composed of nanothorns has been used as a suitable support to fabricate a visible-light-induced 3D AgI@TiO2 nanophotocatalyst. The structural characterization revealed that the size of the obtained AgI@TiO2 nanocomposite was close to that of pristine TiO2 particles, where AgI nanoparticles were evenly dispersed on the surfaces of...