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

• , fossil fuels are limited and will be depleted. Regarding clean and sustainable energy resources, in particular solar energy has become a candidate to eventually replace fossil fuels. Among the various strategies, hydrogen production by photocatalytic water splitting is emerging as a promising approach

• and Honda [4] reported the first example of hydrogen production by photocatalytic water splitting in 1972, using TiO2 as the photocatalyst under ultraviolet-light irradiation. Since then, numerous semiconductors have been explored for photocatalytic hydrogen production (PHP) by water splitting, which

• under visible light [52]. With the extensive studies of nitrogen-rich triazine- and heptazine-based photocatalysts for hydrogen production, pyridine and its derivatives as nitrogen-containing acceptors have attracted great interest again, and D–A architectures for photocatalytic water splitting were

Boosting of photocatalytic hydrogen evolution via chlorine doping of polymeric carbon nitride

• Malgorzata Aleksandrzak,
• Michalina Kijaczko,
• Wojciech Kukulka,
• Daria Baranowska,
• Martyna Baca,
• Beata Zielinska and
• Ewa Mijowska

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 473–484, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.38

• and sonicating for 1 h. The photocatalytic water splitting reaction was carried out in an outer irradiation-type reactor (Pyrex reaction vessel) connected to an argon source. After the reaction solution was placed in the reactor, 5 mL of lactic acid was poured into and purged with argon for air

Materials nanoarchitectonics at two-dimensional liquid interfaces

• Katsuhiko Ariga,
• Michio Matsumoto,
• Taizo Mori and
• Lok Kumar Shrestha

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1559–1587, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.153

• because of their superior electric/electrochemical properties that make them suitable for energy and electrochemical applications [56][57][58][59][60]. The works include the use of two-dimensional metal oxide nanosheets for artificial photosynthesis systems, i.e., photocatalytic water splitting and

Controllable one-pot synthesis of uniform colloidal TiO₂ particles in a mixed solvent solution for photocatalysis

• Jong Tae Moon,
• Seung Ki Lee and
• Ji Bong Joo

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1715–1727, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.163

• valance bands, TiO2 can absorb photons in the ultraviolet (UV) portion of the light spectrum. This leads to the sequential generation of electron–hole pairs that can induce a variety of surface redox reactions. Photocatalytic water splitting via a TiO2 electrode under UV irradiation was first reported by

Cr(VI) remediation from aqueous environment through modified-TiO₂-mediated photocatalytic reduction

• Rashmi Acharya,
• Brundabana Naik and
• Kulamani Parida

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1448–1470, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.137

• crisis [50]. The conventional processes, such as steam reforming, partial oxidation, coal gasification, etc. used for production of H2 from fossil fuels (natural gas and coal), are limited because of high cost and stringent environmental regulations [51]. Photocatalytic water splitting for the production

• ultraviolet (UV) light in 1972 [52]. In photocatalytic water splitting, hVB+ in the VB oxidize H2O to produce O2 as shown in Equation 2 only when the band edge potential at the VB is more positive than the oxidation potential of O2 evolution (E0O2/H2O = 1.23 V vs NHE). On the other hand, H2 gas is produced

Facile synthesis of a ZnO–BiOI p–n nano-heterojunction with excellent visible-light photocatalytic activity

• Mengyuan Zhang,
• Jiaqian Qin,
• Pengfei Yu,
• Bing Zhang,
• Mingzhen Ma,
• Xinyu Zhang and
• Riping Liu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 789–800, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.72

• abundance and sustainability of solar energy. The incredible potential of these materials, which has attracted great enthusiasm from researchers in the past a few decades, renders them strong candidates for a variety of applications that range from photocatalytic water splitting [1][2], organic pollution

Bombyx mori silk/titania/gold hybrid materials for photocatalytic water splitting: combining renewable raw materials with clean fuels

• Stefanie Krüger,
• Michael Schwarze,
• Otto Baumann,
• Christina Günter,
• Michael Bruns,
• Christian Kübel,
• Dorothée Vinga Szabó,
• Rafael Meinusch,
• Verónica de Zea Bermudez and
• Andreas Taubert

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 187–204, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.21

• Giessen, Germany Department of Chemistry and CQ-VR, University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Pt-5001-801 Vila Real, Portugal 10.3762/bjnano.9.21 Abstract The synthesis, structure, and photocatalytic water splitting performance of two new titania (TiO2)/gold(Au)/Bombyx mori silk hybrid materials are

• easily be recycled and show great potential for application in lightweight devices for green fuel production. Keywords: Bombyx mori silk; gold; photocatalytic water splitting; titania; Introduction Fossil fuel availability is one of the pressing issues today. Especially in light of a growing world

• to a wealth of studies on photocatalytic water splitting [6][7][8][9][10]. To be successful, the water splitting catalyst needs to have a certain set of properties. Most prominently, it should have a bandgap of at least 1.23 eV to provide the energy needed to split water. However, the bandgap should

Review on optofluidic microreactors for artificial photosynthesis

• Xiaowen Huang,
• Jianchun Wang,
• Tenghao Li,
• Jianmei Wang,
• Min Xu,
• Weixing Yu,
• Abdel El Abed and
• Xuming Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 30–41, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.5

• create not only the carbohydrates but also other high-value chemicals from abundant resources [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]. Based on the targeted production, three key areas in the field of APS have attracted intense attention including: photocatalytic water splitting [24][25], light-driven

• CO2 reduction [26] and photo-coenzyme regeneration [27] (see Figure 2), which are promising solutions to the energy crisis, greenhouse effect and food shortage, respectively [24][26][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45]. Photocatalytic water splitting aims to convert

• water splitting. As a renewable and nontoxic gas, hydrogen works not only as a clean fuel but also as a feedstock for important chemical production, such as ammonia and methanol. Similarly, light-driven CO2 reduction has great potential as a clean fuel supplier, especially for the production of methanol

Two-dimensional carbon-based nanocomposites for photocatalytic energy generation and environmental remediation applications

• Suneel Kumar,
• Ashish Kumar,
• Ashish Bahuguna,
• Vipul Sharma and
• Venkata Krishnan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1571–1600, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.159

• sustainable source for energy generation and environmental remediation, photocatalytic water splitting and photocatalytic pollutant degradation have recently gained significant importance. Research in this field is aimed at solving the global energy crisis and environmental issues in an ecologically-friendly

• energy generation and environmental remediation using two-dimensional carbon-based nanocomposites. It begins with a brief introduction to the field, basic principles of photocatalytic water splitting for energy generation and environmental remediation, followed by the properties of carbon-based

• ]. Moreover the H2 production has attracted great attention as a renewable, sustainable energy source due to growing environmental issues [96][97]. Therefore photocatalytic water splitting has been extensively studied using various semiconductor-based materials and many new semiconductor-based photocatalysts

Functionalized nanostructures for enhanced photocatalytic performance under solar light

• Liejin Guo,
• Dengwei Jing,
• Maochang Liu,
• Yubin Chen,
• Shaohua Shen,
• Jinwen Shi and
• Kai Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 994–1004, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.113

• photon by the band gap of semiconductor materials (Figure 1). Upon photon excitation, the photogenerated charges move to the surface of semiconductor particles where photocatalytic reactions occur. Consequently, the efficiency of photocatalytic water splitting is closely affected by the band structure of

Enhancement of photocatalytic H₂ evolution of eosin Y-sensitized reduced graphene oxide through a simple photoreaction

• Weiying Zhang,
• Yuexiang Li,
• Shaoqin Peng and
• Xiang Cai

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 801–811, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.92

• ; graphene oxide; H2 evolution; photocatalysis; photoreduction; sp2 conjugated domains; Introduction Hydrogen is an efficient and green energy carrier. Photocatalytic water splitting into hydrogen by means of solar energy and semiconductor photocatalysts is a environmentally friendly way to produce storable

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

• [59][60][61][62][63], photocatalytic water splitting [64][65] photoelectrochemical water splitting [66][67][68][69][70][71][72], photocatalytic conversion of CO2 with H2O to hydrocarbon fuels [73], and degradation of organic molecules [74]. In 2004, Tatsuma et al. reported that nanoporous TiO2 films

Preparation of NiS/ZnIn₂S₄ as a superior photocatalyst for hydrogen evolution under visible light irradiation

• Liang Wei,
• Yongjuan Chen,
• Jialin Zhao and
• Zhaohui Li

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 949–955, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.107

• ; Introduction Hydrogen is a clean and green fuel. The conversion and store of solar energy in the form of hydrogen by photocatalytic water splitting holds great promise to meet the future energy and environment requirements [1][2][3]. Ever since the pioneering work of a photo-electrochemical cell using Pt-TiO2