Nanomaterials for photocatalysis and applications in environmental remediation and renewable energy

• Viet Van Pham and
• Wee-Jun Ong

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 722–724, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.58

• development of advanced materials based on semiconductors (i.e., carbon-modified hexagonal boron nitride (MBN), MgO@g-C3N4, and TiO2@MWCNTs) have indicated a highly efficient photocatalytic performance for phenol removal using a low-power visible LED light source. For NO degradation, a visible light source

The microstrain-accompanied structural phase transition from h-MoO₃ to α-MoO₃ investigated by in situ X-ray diffraction

• Zeqian Zhang,
• Honglong Shi,
• Boxiang Zhuang,
• Minting Luo and
• Zhenfei Hu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 692–700, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.55

• boundary may improve the photocatalytic performance of MoO3. The crystal structures of h-MoO3 and α-MoO3 The crystal structure of the hexagonal phase h-MoO3 Thermogravimetric results [23][24][25] indicate that the h-MoO3 phase releases water molecules during heat treatment, suggesting that water molecules

Titania nanoparticles for photocatalytic degradation of ethanol under simulated solar light

• Evghenii Goncearenco,
• Iuliana P. Morjan,
• Claudiu Teodor Fleaca,
• Florian Dumitrache,
• Elena Dutu,
• Monica Scarisoreanu,
• Valentin Serban Teodorescu,
• Alexandra Sandulescu,
• Crina Anastasescu and
• Ioan Balint

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 616–630, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.51

• . Photocatalytic performance of the nanopowders These experiments have been conducted in environments with low oxygen concentration. Ethanol vapors play a double role here, that is, they generate hydrogen by photodehydrogenation and also undergo oxidation to carbon dioxide and water under the action of simulated

Bismuth-based nanostructured photocatalysts for the remediation of antibiotics and organic dyes

• Akeem Adeyemi Oladipo and
• Faisal Suleiman Mustafa

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 291–321, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.26

• , Bi2O3, BiFeO3, Bi2WO6, Bi2Mo3O12, Bi2MoO6, and BiOI [24][25][39][40][41][42][43][44][45]) using a variety of techniques to tailor their size, morphology, and optoelectrical properties to improve their photocatalytic performance and to better understand the factors influencing their performance

• studies that used undoped/non-composite Bi-based nanostructured photocatalysts to degrade textile dyes and antibiotics. Even though different Bi-based photocatalysts have demonstrated impressive photocatalytic performance, pristine and bulk Bi-based photocatalysts still have some drawbacks such as limited

• of the host material, enhancing charge carrier dynamics [20][146]. In contrast to undoped Bi2WO6, visible light-driven 3-D hierarchical Ag-doped Bi2WO6 nanoparticles showed improved photocatalytic performance by destroying 95% of tetracycline in only 70 min, according to Shen and co-workers [147

A TiO₂@MWCNTs nanocomposite photoanode for solar-driven water splitting

• Anh Quynh Huu Le,
• Ngoc Nhu Thi Nguyen,
• Hai Duy Tran,
• Van-Huy Nguyen and
• Le-Hai Tran

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1520–1530, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.125

• the photocatalytic performance [4][5]. Because TiO2 only exhibits photochemical activity under UV excitation, which accounts for a small fraction (ca. 4%) of the solar energy, numerous modification methods such as doping with nonmetals, coupling with other catalysts, and attaching to supports have

LED-light-activated photocatalytic performance of metal-free carbon-modified hexagonal boron nitride towards degradation of methylene blue and phenol

• Nirmalendu S. Mishra and
• Pichiah Saravanan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1380–1392, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.114

• ]. Nevertheless, the obtained MBN-80 was found to be a potential photocatalyst which can be activated with LED light and has a limited spectrum as compared to solar light. The SEM images of MBN-80 before and after five reuse cycles is depicted in Figure 7e,f. A comparison between the photocatalytic performance of

• the obtained experimental outcomes substantiates MBN as a superior photoactive material with enhanced LHE, charge carrier generation, and reduced exciton recombination in comparison to HBN. The introduction of carbon into the HBN lattice sites boosted the overall photocatalytic performance through

• ) photocatalytic performance of MB up to five cycles. (h, i) SEM images of MBN-80 before and after five reuse cycles. (a) Electronic band structure demonstrating the edge potentials for MBN. (b) Charge trapping analysis using various quenching reagents and (c) GC–MS analysis for the obtained intermediates. A

Recent trends in Bi-based nanomaterials: challenges, fabrication, enhancement techniques, and environmental applications

• Vishal Dutta,
• Ankush Chauhan,
• Ritesh Verma,
• C. Gopalkrishnan and
• Van-Huy Nguyen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1316–1336, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.109

• modification is crucial in photocatalysis. Bi-based photocatalytic nanomaterials have gotten much interest as they exhibit distinctive geometric shapes, flexible electronic structures, and good photocatalytic performance under visible light. They can be employed as stand-alone photocatalysts for pollution

• /storage due to their reactivity, surface area, and advantageous features compared to their bulk counterparts [2][3][4]. In recent years, many efforts have increased the photocatalytic performance. However, the relative photocatalytic performance is still deficient, and it does not fulfil the criteria for

• type of halogen used. The activation of otherwise inert CO2 and H2O molecules is greatly aided by the ease with which photoinduced oxygen vacancies (OVs) are produced on the surface [25]. The excellent photocatalytic performance can be attributed to the layered crystal structures and small bandgap

Rapid fabrication of MgO@g-C₃N₄ heterojunctions for photocatalytic nitric oxide removal

• Minh-Thuan Pham,
• Duyen P. H. Tran,
• Xuan-Thanh Bui and
• Sheng-Jie You

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1141–1154, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.96

• (+1.75 eV) is more negative than that of H2O/•OH (+2.40 eV), reducing the photocatalytic efficiency [16][17]. A well-known approach for overcoming this problem in order to achieve increased photocatalytic performance is to couple two semiconductors with optimal band alignment. MgO is an alkaline metal

• oxide with wide bandgap (3.5–5 eV), high availability, non-toxicity, low cost, and native structural defects [18][19]. The large bandgap energy is the limitation of MgO, reducing the photocatalytic performance and applicability of MgO [20]. Various efforts have been made to enhance the absorption in the

• visible light region, including nonmetal and noble-metal doping, metal deposition, and formation of heterojunctions [21][22]. The construction of heterojunction structures has shown its effectiveness in improving photocatalytic performance by enhancing the separation of charge carriers and optimizing the

Spindle-like MIL101(Fe) decorated with Bi₂O₃ nanoparticles for enhanced degradation of chlortetracycline under visible-light irradiation

• Chen-chen Hao,
• Fang-yan Chen,
• Kun Bian,
• Yu-bin Tang and
• Wei-long Shi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1038–1050, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.91

• China 10.3762/bjnano.13.91 Abstract Improving the photocatalytic performance of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) is an important way to expand its potential applications. In this work, zero-dimensional (0D) Bi2O3 nanoparticles were anchored to the surface of tridimensional (3D) MIL101(Fe) by a facile

• for degradation of CTC under visible-light irradiation, the removal of CTC reaches nearly 88.2% within 120 min. The excellent photocatalytic performance of the BOM-20 composite was attributed to a Z-scheme heterojunction between Bi2O3 and MIL101(Fe). The construction of the Z-scheme heterojunction not

Solar-light-driven LaFe_xNi_1−xO₃ perovskite oxides for photocatalytic Fenton-like reaction to degrade organic pollutants

• Chao-Wei Huang,
• Shu-Yu Hsu,
• Jun-Han Lin,
• Yun Jhou,
• Wei-Yu Chen,
• Kun-Yi Andrew Lin,
• Yu-Tang Lin and
• Van-Huy Nguyen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 882–895, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.79

• photocatalytic performance of LaFe0.5Ni0.5O3 was enhanced much more apparent than that of LaFe0.3Ni0.7O3. It indicated that Fe3+ plays a vital role in involving MB degradation. As the Fe doped content increased, LaFe0.7Ni0.3O3 reached the highest photocatalytic capability, originating from its largest surface

• fact that more uniform structural features of the perovskite oxide prepared at pH 0 were achieved than the condition at pH 7. Moreover, the photocatalytic performance of physically mixed 70% LaFeO3 and 30% LaNiO3 could be estimated based on the result of MB degradation using 70% LaFeO3 (since LaNiO3

• measured at different pH values in Figure 10. After 120 min of simulated solar light irradiation, the degradation performance at 1.5, 3.5, and 5.5 were 97.9%, 100%, and 25.2%, respectively. The pH value at 3.5 revealed the highest photocatalytic performance, in which MB pollutants were completely degraded

Hierarchical Bi₂WO₆/TiO₂-nanotube composites derived from natural cellulose for visible-light photocatalytic treatment of pollutants

• Zehao Lin,
• Zhan Yang and
• Jianguo Huang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 745–762, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.66

• photocatalytic performance of the Bi2WO6 material since the recombination of photogenerated charges during photocatalysis is still too fast to produce a large amount of effective photoinduced carriers [25]. In order to solve the aforementioned problems of TiO2 and Bi2WO6 materials, researchers have fabricated

• approx. 10 nm, which are assigned to the mesopores of the TiO2 nanocrystallites in the TiO2 nanotubes and the gaps between the Bi2WO6 nanoparticles. Photocatalytic performance Cr(VI) and RhB pollutants are selected as the model pollutants for the evaluation of the photocatalytic performance of the

Sodium doping in brookite TiO₂ enhances its photocatalytic activity

• Boxiang Zhuang,
• Honglong Shi,
• Honglei Zhang and
• Zeqian Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 599–609, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.52

• brookite TiO2 changes with the preparing details is still unclear. The varied local structures of brookite can affect its electronic structure and hence its photocatalytic performance. Here, we report that Na-doped brookite NaxTi1−xO2 was synthesized by a hydrothermal reaction of tetrabutyl titanate

• considered to be one of the factors affecting photocatalytic performance. In this work, the Scherrer formula was employed to extract the crystal size from the (211) diffraction peak (details are listed in Table 1). Note that the extracted crystallite size is just the thickness of the (211) crystal plane

Zinc oxide nanostructures for fluorescence and Raman signal enhancement: a review

• Ioana Marica,
• Fran Nekvapil,
• Maria Ștefan,
• Cosmin Farcău and
• Alexandra Falamaș

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 472–490, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.40

Engineered titania nanomaterials in advanced clinical applications

• Padmavati Sahare,
• Paulina Govea Alvarez,
• Juan Manual Sanchez Yanez,
• Gabriel Luna-Bárcenas,
• Samik Chakraborty,
• Sujay Paul and
• Miriam Estevez

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 201–218, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.15

• generated free electrons (e−) react with molecular oxygen to generate superoxide radicals by reduction. Several factors contribute to the photocatalytic performance of TiO2, such as the structural phase (anatase, brookite, or rutile), defects in the lattice, the degree of crystallinity, morphology

Tin dioxide nanomaterial-based photocatalysts for nitrogen oxide oxidation: a review

• Viet Van Pham,
• Hong-Huy Tran,
• Thao Kim Truong and
• Thi Minh Cao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 96–113, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.7

• % after 30 min under solar light irradiation, and the conversion efficacy from NO to NO2 is 1.66%. The high photocatalytic performance and the stability of SnO2 NPs under solar light is promising for potential application [69]. Recent approaches in the modification of SnO2 for photocatalytic NOx oxidation

Self-assembly of amino acids toward functional biomaterials

• Huan Ren,
• Lifang Wu,
• Lina Tan,
• Yanni Bao,
• Yuchen Ma,
• Yong Jin and
• Qianli Zou

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 1140–1150, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.85

• (Cd2+) to form a three-dimensional crystal of Cys/Cd nanorods. Then, upon the introduction of Na2S, the Cys/Cd template mediates the mineralization of cadmium sulfide (CdS) into a layered CdS quantum dot structure, finally making a simple bionic daylight antenna with sustainable photocatalytic

• performance [58]. In addition, Liu et al. [59], inspired by the cystine pathological biomineralization process, developed a zinc-directed cystine assembly to mimic chloroplast photosynthesis. Zn2+ promotes rapid nucleation of cystine crystals and regulates crystal morphology through splitting growth

Nanoporous and nonporous conjugated donor–acceptor polymer semiconductors for photocatalytic hydrogen production

• Zhao-Qi Sheng,
• Yu-Qin Xing,
• Yan Chen,
• Guang Zhang,
• Shi-Yong Liu and
• Long Chen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 607–623, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.50

• be easily tuned via structural design. In addition, they are of light weight (i.e., mainly composed of C, N, O, and S). To improve the photocatalytic performance of CPs and better understand the catalytic mechanisms, many strategies with respect to material design have been proposed. These include

• , for example, La, Bi, and Ta, which are often rare, toxic, and expensive [6]. Also, expensive noble metal-based cocatalysts (e.g., Pt) are required to improve the photocatalytic performance. As such, an ideal photocatalyst for water splitting reaction should fit the following criteria: suitable bandgap

• trimerization of nitrile under harsh conditions [43], Tan et al. developed a new condensation reaction of aldehydes with amidines to construct covalent triazene frameworks (CTFs) under mild conditions [45]. They investigated the effects of donor units with different heteroatoms on the photocatalytic performance

Unravelling the interfacial interaction in mesoporous SiO₂@nickel phyllosilicate/TiO₂ core–shell nanostructures for photocatalytic activity

• Bridget K. Mutuma,
• Xiluva Mathebula,
• Isaac Nongwe,
• Bonakele P. Mtolo,
• Boitumelo J. Matsoso,
• Rudolph Erasmus,
• Zikhona Tetana and
• Neil J. Coville

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1834–1846, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.165

• photodegradation activity. Charge transfer between mSiO2@NiPS and TiO2 led to a faster charge-carrier separation and transportation at the interface, improving the photoactivity. The photocatalytic results showed that the mSiO2@NiPS/TiO2 composite exhibited excellent photocatalytic performance with a methyl violet

Nanocasting synthesis of BiFeO₃ nanoparticles with enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity

• Thomas Cadenbach,
• Maria J. Benitez,
• A. Lucia Morales,
• Cesar Costa Vera,
• Luis Lascano,
• Francisco Quiroz,
• Alexis Debut and
• Karla Vizuete

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1822–1833, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.164

• 1.75 g/L result in an increased opacity of the heterogeneous reaction mixture, which consequently leads to a decrease of the photocatalytic performance. Thus, we conclude that the optimum concentration of the nanocast BiFeO3 catalyst for the photodegradation of RhB is 1.25 g/L. The stability and

Effect of Ag loading position on the photocatalytic performance of TiO₂ nanocolumn arrays

• Jinghan Xu,
• Yanqi Liu and
• Yan Zhao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 717–728, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.59

• efficiency of methylene blue (MB) compared with Ag-coated TiO2 (ACT) nanocolumn arrays and pure TiO2 nanocolumns arrays. Both experimental and theoretical simulation results demonstrated that the enhanced photocatalytic performance of AFT nanocolumn arrays was attributed to the surface plasmon resonance (SPR

• affords specimens with different electron transfer characteristics than those of rutile and anatase TiO2, and the as-prepared films fit the template well. When Ag particles are combined with TiO2, the photocatalytic performance of the film can be significantly enhanced by hot electron injection [24

Preparation, characterization and photocatalytic performance of heterostructured CuO–ZnO-loaded composite nanofiber membranes

• Wei Fang,
• Liang Yu and
• Lan Xu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 631–650, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.50

• using cathodic co-electrodeposition and observed their photocatalytic performance. Fierro et al. [25] synthesized CuO–ZnO composite catalysts by temperature-programmed reduction and applied them in photocatalytic degradation. Nanocomposites loaded with metal oxide semiconductors have excellent optical

• electrospinning and observed their photocatalytic performance. Yuan et al. [35] obtained TiO2/WO3 CNFs using electrospinning and applied them in the photocatalytic removal of mercury. Teng et al. [36] prepared TiO2/NiO CNFs by electrospinning and used them for photocatalysis. Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) has been

Synthesis and enhanced photocatalytic performance of 0D/2D CuO/tourmaline composite photocatalysts

• Changqiang Yu,
• Min Wen,
• Zhen Tong,
• Shuhua Li,
• Yanhong Yin,
• Xianbin Liu,
• Yesheng Li,
• Tongxiang Liang,
• Ziping Wu and
• Dionysios D. Dionysiou

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 407–416, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.31

• NANO ZS90 instrument (Malvern, UK). Photocatalytic activity evaluation The photocatalytic performance was examined by the degradation of MB with light irradiation simulated by a 300 W Xe lamp with a 420 nm cut-off filter. In detail, 0.05 g of the as-synthesized photocatalyst was added into 100 mL of

• photocatalytic performance of the CuO/tourmaline composite was also tested under different conditions. The composite with the synthesis temperature of 180 °C exhibited optimum photocatalytic activity (Supporting Information File 1, Figure S2), implying that the synthesis temperature of 180 °C could optimize the

• 0D/2D CuO structure and interfacial interaction between CuO and tourmaline. The initial solution pH affected the photocatalytic performance mainly via changing the adsorption of dye molecules onto photocatalysts (Figure 7a), as adsorption occurred firstly during the photodegradation reactions [42

Improved adsorption and degradation performance by S-doping of (001)-TiO₂

• Xiao-Yu Sun,
• Xian Zhang,
• Xiao Sun,
• Ni-Xian Qian,
• Min Wang and
• Yong-Qing Ma

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2116–2127, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.206

• , 2, 3, 4 and 5. The S-doped samples synthesized at 250 °C exhibit a significantly improved photocatalytic performance. More precisely, S-doping has the following effects on the material: (1) S can adopt different chemical states in the samples. Specifically, it exists in the form of S2− replacing O2

• high photocatalytic activity [10]. However, Yu et al. demonstrated that an appropriate proportion of exposed (001) and (101) crystal faces, which forms a “surface heterojunction”, facilitates the separation of photo-generated carriers [8]. Consequently, this improves the photocatalytic performance

• performance. Li et al. synthesized composites of mesoporous (001)-TiO2 and C applying a one-pot hydrothermal strategy in the presence of glucose and hydrofluoric acid (HF). The composites an exhibited excellent visible-light-driven photocatalytic performance [14]. Chen et al. synthesized a composite of g-C3N4

Direct observation of oxygen-vacancy formation and structural changes in Bi₂WO₆ nanoflakes induced by electron irradiation

• Hong-long Shi,
• Bin Zou,
• Zi-an Li,
• Min-ting Luo and
• Wen-zhong Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1434–1442, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.141

• prominent role of oxygen vacancies in the photocatalytic performance of bismuth tungsten oxides is well recognized, while the underlying formation mechanisms remain poorly understood. Here, we use the transmission electron microscopy to investigate the formation of oxygen vacancies and the structural

BiOCl/TiO₂/diatomite composites with enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity for the degradation of rhodamine B

• Minlin Ao,
• Kun Liu,
• Xuekun Tang,
• Zishun Li,
• Qian Peng and
• Jing Huang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1412–1422, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.139

• , low-cost and ease of application, which are superior to other approaches of environmental remediation [8][9]. However, the application of photocatalysis is still hindered due to the agglomeration of photocatalyst particles, the difficulty of photocatalyst recovery and low photocatalytic performance

• . The recyclability of the photocatalysts is of great significance for the evaluation of photocatalytic performance and practical application [43]. Five cycles of photocatalytic activity of the BTD composite were investigated and the results (Supporting Information File 1, Figure S3b) show that BTD has

• , the lower the recombination rate, and the better the photocatalytic performance. Although BTD only slightly reduces the band gap and enhances the light response ability, it has the lowest PL spectral intensity shown in Figure 10a, indicating that BTD can efficiently promote photogenerated electron