Gas sensing with gold-decorated vertically aligned carbon nanotubes

• Prasantha R. Mudimela,
• Mattia Scardamaglia,
• Oriol González-León,
• Nicolas Reckinger,
• Rony Snyders,
• Eduard Llobet,
• Carla Bittencourt and
• Jean-François Colomer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 910–918, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.104

• decorated with gold nanoparticles were investigated as gas sensitive materials for detecting nitrogen dioxide (NO2) at room temperature. Gold nanoparticles of about 6 nm in diameter were sputtered on the top surface of the carbon nanotube forests to enhance the sensitivity to the pollutant gas. We showed

Pyrite nanoparticles as a Fenton-like reagent for in situ remediation of organic pollutants

• Carolina Gil-Lozano,
• Elisabeth Losa-Adams,
• Alfonso F.-Dávila and
• Luis Gago-Duport

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 855–864, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.97

• , dissolution of pyrite in water promotes the recycling of Fe2+ into Fe3+ and vice versa, triggering Fenton production of HO•, the primary species responsible for oxidative degradation of the pollutant. Our results with the synthetic pyrite nanoparticles demonstrate that H2O2 is indeed generated by iron

• disulfide, in the absence of trace compounds founds in natural pyrite. Our kinetics analysis showed that the pyrite nanoparticles enabled a ca. 8 times greater efficiency of pollutant removal than did the microparticles. The use of synthetic pyrite nanoparticles avoids the dangers of heavy metal release

• a cheap alternative to conventional Fenton approaches for the selective oxidation of pollutant dyes. Experimental Chemicals Copper phthalocyanine-3, 4´, 4´´, 4´´´- tetrasulfonic acid tetrasodium salt (85%), oleylamine (OA, 70%), sulfur (99.99%) and toluene (99.8% anhydrous) were purchased from Sigma

Visible light photooxidative performance of a high-nuclearity molecular bismuth vanadium oxide cluster

• Johannes Tucher and
• Carsten Streb

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 711–716, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.83

• pollutant dye indigo Compound 1 was tested as a homogeneous, visible-light driven photooxidation catalyst for the oxidative degradation of the model pollutant dye indigo (hereafter: Ind). To this end, aliquots of cluster 1 and the dye were mixed in N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) solution (typical molar ratio

• photooxidative degradation of the model pollutant indigo as a test reaction. Wavelength-dependent photocatalytic activity is reported and high quantum efficiencies of ca. 15% are observed at the UV–vis border. Practical quantum efficiencies >5% are found up to wavelengths of λ = 450 nm. Recycling studies show

Nanostructure sensitization of transition metal oxides for visible-light photocatalysis

• Hongjun Chen and
• Lianzhou Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 696–710, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.82

• visible-light photocatalysis is still in an early phase of development, the photocatalysts have played effective roles in many potential applications including solar fuel production, pollutant decomposition, and water/air purification. In the course of, we believe that a fundamental understanding of the

Applicability and costs of nanofiltration in combination with photocatalysis for the treatment of dye house effluents

• Wolfgang M. Samhaber and
• Minh Tan Nguyen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 476–484, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.55

• considered to offer greater contacting surfaces between the photocatalysts and the pollutant molecules than reactors working with immobilized photocatalysts. Immobilized catalysts have a defined specific surface area, which is connected with the supporting surface. Photoreactors with suspended catalysts

Enhanced visible light photocatalysis through fast crystallization of zinc oxide nanorods

• Sunandan Baruah,
• Mohammad Abbas Mahmood,
• Myo Tay Zar Myint,
• Tanujjal Bora and
• Joydeep Dutta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2010, 1, 14–20, doi:10.3762/bjnano.1.3

• creation in nanostructured photocatalysts could be an attractive solution for visible light photocatalysis. Keywords: defects; nanoparticle; nanorod; photocatalysis; pollutant; ZnO; Introduction Photocatalysis is a light induced catalytic process whereby photogenerated electron-hole pairs in a