Outstanding chain-extension effect and high UV resistance of polybutylene succinate containing amino-acid-modified layered double hydroxides

• Adam A. Marek,
• Vincent Verney,
• Christine Taviot-Gueho,
• Grazia Totaro,
• Laura Sisti,
• Annamaria Celli and
• Fabrice Leroux

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 684–695, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.68

• to a photodegradation process, showing their resistance to UV irradiation. Experimental Materials and reagents Aluminium nitrate Al(NO3)3·9H2O, magnesium nitrate Mg(NO3)2·6H2O, sodium nitrate NaNO3, sodium hydroxide, the amino acids L-histidine (HIS) and L-phenylalanine (PHE) were purchased from

• for one minute. Photodegradation PBS and PBS–LDH nanocomposite films were placed on a rotating carousel in a SEPAP 12/24 chamber from ATLAS equipped with four 400 W mercury lamps with spectral rays above 300 nm. The accelerated photodegradation was studied at 60 °C and under air atmosphere

• can be caused by the cycle phenyl or imidazole acting as a chromophore. Also, PBS with Mg2Al/nitrate LDH shows lower transmittance, as described above. The evolution of the UV–vis transmittance of PBS and PBS nanocomposites was measured during photodegradation at 60 °C (Supporting Information File 1

Ceria/polymer nanocontainers for high-performance encapsulation of fluorophores

• Kartheek Katta,
• Dmitry Busko,
• Yuri Avlasevich,
• Katharina Landfester,
• Stanislav Baluschev and
• Rafael Muñoz-Espí

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 522–530, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.53

• the oxygen concentration inside the capsules during polymerization. This decrease of oxygen content resulted also in a decreased rate of photodegradation of the TDI molecule. To further minimize the effect of fluorescence quenching, cerium(IV) oxide was crystallized on the surface of polymer sample NC

• fluorescence emission spectra for all synthesized samples after having sealed the samples with argon in the glove box (see Supporting Information File 1, Figure S6). The spectra did not show any significant difference to samples prepared in an oxygen-free atmosphere. Finally, photodegradation experiments were

• , ambient conditions with CeO2) and NC(Ar)-CeO2 (dash-dotted green line, argon conditions with CeO2). Photodegradation measurements of nanocapsules synthesized under different conditions without cerium oxide (sample NC at ambient conditions and sample NC(Ar) under argon) and with cerium oxide on the surface

Impact of the anodization time on the photocatalytic activity of TiO₂ nanotubes

• Jesús A. Díaz-Real,
• Geyla C. Dubed-Bandomo,
• Juan Galindo-de-la-Rosa,
• Luis G. Arriaga,
• Janet Ledesma-García and
• Nicolas Alonso-Vante

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2628–2643, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.244

• situ measurement was performed. The integrated signal from the UV–vis spectra is presented in Figure 9d to assess the extent of the photodegradation. From these results, it can be seen that TNTs generated with ta ≥ 1 h exhibit superior performance, with a higher oxidation rate for higher ta. This trend

Nanocellulose: Recent advances and its prospects in environmental remediation

• Katrina Pui Yee Shak,
• Yean Ling Pang and
• Shee Keat Mah

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2479–2498, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.232

• dioxide sample. The incorporation of magnetite was able to inhibit the photodegradation of the cellulose structure during UV irradiation and this hybrid structure demonstrated high catalyst recyclability using an external magnetic field. Nanoparticles generally tend to aggregate, leading to difficulties

• , exhibited multifunctionality of water filtration and photodegradation of diphenhydramine and methyl orange. This study demonstrated the advantage of using a cellulose-derived film to support the TiO2 nanoparticle–cellulose film as a good support to avoid TiO2 loss during photocatalytic treatment of

Sheet-on-belt branched TiO₂(B)/rGO powders with enhanced photocatalytic activity

• Huan Xing,
• Wei Wen and
• Jin-Ming Wu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1550–1557, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.146

• assist the photodegradation of phenol in water under UV light illumination. The enhanced photocatalytic activity can be attributed to the significantly increased surface area and enhanced charge separation. Keywords: branched nanostructure; photocatalysis; reduced graphene oxide; TiO2(B); Introduction

• Figure 2b). Photocatalytic activities of the pristine TiO2 nanobelt, TGN and TGN-branches were evaluated via photodegradation of phenol in water under UV light illumination. After stirring in the dark for 1 h, an adsorption–desorption equilibrium was established. About 5% phenol in water was adsorbed by

• all three photocatalysts. The TGN-branch 4 h sample demonstrated enhanced photocatalytic performance as compared to TiO2 nanobelts and the TGN sample. Figure S3 in Supporting Information File 1 shows the photodegradation curves in the presence of TGN and TGN-branches with different deposition times

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

• transformation for the fine chemical synthesis [39][40][41][42] and (v) photodegradation of pollutants [43][44][45][46][47][48][49]. Semiconductor-based photocatalysis proceeds through following three steps: (1) absorption of light; (2) separation and transport of charge carriers; and (3) redox reactions on the

• visible-light irradiation. The authors have also reported that •CO2− radicals (produced by the reaction of hVB+ with HCO2NH4) and eCB− are responsible for the reduction of 4-nitroaniline to p-phenylenediamine over CdS/TiO2 photocatalysts [56]. Photodegradation of pollutants The principle of photocatalysis

• irradiation of suitable light energy. The mechanism of photodegradation of organic pollutants involves the formation of reactive species like O2•− and •OH as per Equation 6 and Equation 7. Some of the O2•− species combine with H+ ions to form •OOH as represented in Equation 8. These active species (•OH, O2

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

• exhibit a significant improvement in the photodegradation of rhodamine B under visible light (λ ≥ 420 nm) irradiation as compared to single-phase ZnO and BiOI. A sample with a Zn/Bi ratio of 3:1 showed the highest photocatalytic activity (≈99.3% after 100 min irradiation). The photodegradation tests

• detail. With the addition of different kinds of sacrificial agents, the possible ZnO/BiOI heterojunction mechanism of photodegradation is preliminarily discussed. Results and Discussion Structure and morphology characterization The composition of as-prepared ZnO/BiOI heterojunction nanocomposites was

• , which is significantly improved from the pure BiOI (5.23 cm2/g) and ZnO (16 cm2/g) materials. This may lead ZnO/BiOI to have more active bonding sites than pure BiOI and ZnO, which is beneficial for the photodegradation activity. Chemical state analysis X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was carried

Surface-plasmon-enhanced ultraviolet emission of Au-decorated ZnO structures for gas sensing and photocatalytic devices

• T. Anh Thu Do,
• Truong Giang Ho,
• Thu Hoai Bui,
• Quang Ngan Pham,
• Hong Thai Giang,
• Thi Thu Do,
• Duc Van Nguyen and
• Dai Lam Tran

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 771–779, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.70

• investigated for photocatalytic activity as reported previously [8][20]. The photocatalytic activity of the Pt/ZnO hybrid nanocomposite under photodegradation of rhodamine B (RhB) was higher compared to commercial TiO2 [21]. Here, it is quite reasonable to note that the plasmonic metal NP/metal-oxide

• solution in the presence of these photocatalysts under visible-light irradiation were investigated. The results are shown in Figure 5a and Figures S2 and S3 (Supporting Information File 1). The changes in the PL spectra during photodegradation indicated that the PL peak position of RhB (561.5 nm) decreases

• activity wase evaluated by the photodegradation of an aqueous rhodamine B (RhB) solution at room temperature. Experiments were performed as follows: the prepared ZnO and Au NP/ZnO films (7.5 × 7.5 mm) were added into 2 mL of an aqueous RhB solution (1 × 10−6 M) in a quartz cuvette, and then the cell was

Perovskite-structured CaTiO₃ coupled with g-C₃N₄ as a heterojunction photocatalyst for organic pollutant degradation

• Ashish Kumar,
• Christian Schuerings,
• Suneel Kumar,
• Ajay Kumar and
• Venkata Krishnan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 671–685, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.62

• , visible and sunlight). To demonstrate the photocatalytic performance of the as-prepared catalysts more precisely, the kinetics of the photodegradation of RhB aqueous solutions was studied by fitting the obtained degradation results to a pseudo-first-order reaction model [54][55] and modified Freundlich

• materials as it could appreciably reduce the costs of the photocatalytic process and reveals the most promising photocatalysis candidates. Hence, we carried out three successive cycles of photodegradation of RhB in order to comment on the reusability of the CTCN heterojunction as an efficient photocatalyst

• the photodegradation of the pollutant. The entire photocatalytic reaction mechanism under sunlight irradiation can be summarized as follows: To validate the proposed mechanism and to gain insight into the role played by active species, radical trapping experiments were performed for RhB degradation

Mechanistic insights into plasmonic photocatalysts in utilizing visible light

• Kah Hon Leong,
• Azrina Abd Aziz,
• Lan Ching Sim,
• Pichiah Saravanan,
• Min Jang and
• Detlef Bahnemann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 628–648, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.59

• Society of Chemistry. Photodegradation of GO in the presence of an electron donor (Ag NPs). Reprinted with permission from [95], copyright 2011 Royal Society of Chemistry. (a) Pure metal nanoparticles (NPs) without any semiconductor. (b) Metal NPs partially embedded into the semiconductor and partially

Fabrication and photoactivity of ionic liquid–TiO₂ structures for efficient visible-light-induced photocatalytic decomposition of organic pollutants in aqueous phase

• Anna Gołąbiewska,
• Marta Paszkiewicz-Gawron,
• Aleksandra Sadzińska,
• Wojciech Lisowski,
• Ewelina Grabowska,
• Adriana Zaleska-Medynska and
• Justyna Łuczak

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 580–590, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.54

• Table 4. It was observed that application of AgNO3 as a scavenger of e− for the both samples (TiO2_T(1:3) and TiO2_O(1:3) did not affect the effectiveness of the photocatalytic process compared to that carried out without scavengers. Participation of O2• in the photodegradation process was investigated

• ) photocatalysts, respectively. It is deduced that the oxidation inhibition of phenol is due to the suppression of the superoxide anion formation by the BQ addition. Addition of AO (holes scavenger) resulted in a slight inhibition of the photodegradation process under visible-light irradiation for both samples

• observed in the absence of either the photocatalyst or illumination. Determination of reactive species To clarify which active species are involved in the photodegradation of the model compound, the phenol irradiation process was preceded by analogous experiments performed in the presence of different

Influence of the preparation method on the photocatalytic activity of Nd-modified TiO₂

• Patrycja Parnicka,
• Paweł Mazierski,
• Tomasz Grzyb,
• Wojciech Lisowski,
• Ewa Kowalska,
• Bunsho Ohtani,
• Adriana Zaleska-Medynska and
• Joanna Nadolna

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 447–459, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.43

• pristine and Nd-modified TiO2 were investigated using the photocatalytic degradations of phenol in aqueous solution and of gaseous toluene. Kinetics and degradation rate of model pollutants are presented in Figure 7 and Table 4. The photodegradation of phenol was performed in aqueous solution under UV–vis

• ). The rate of toluene degradation was 3.36 μmol·dm−1·min−1 for HT-prepared TiO2 modified with Nd, while the photodegradation efficiency decreased in SHT-prepared TiO2 down to 2.71 μmol·dm−1·min−1. Pristine TiO2 exhibits only low activity (Figure 6c). As photolysis of toluene was not observed and the

• surface properties and the charge carrier recombination processes is presented in Figure 8. The results of the photodegradation significant differences between aqueous solution and gas phase. The quantum yield of the reaction in the gas phase is much higher than that one in aqueous solution due to lower

Facile synthesis of ZnFe₂O₄ photocatalysts for decolourization of organic dyes under solar irradiation

• Arjun Behera,
• Debasmita Kandi,
• Sanjit Manohar Majhi,
• Satyabadi Martha and
• Kulamani Parida

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 436–446, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.42

• of Congo red and Rh B Based upon the above results, the mechanism of the photocatalytic decolourization of Congo red and Rh B is illustrated in Figure 13. Electron and holes generated in ZFO are the agents for the production of the main active species in the photodegradation. CB and VB position of

• . The photocatalytic degradation rate of 10 ppm phenol was found to be 60% after 60 min over ZFO-500. The degradation procedure of phenol is similar to the degradation of Rh B and Congo red [35]. Photodegradation of phenol was performed by using 20 mL of a 10 ppm phenol solution containing 0.02 g of

• Rh B over ZFO-500. Adsorption spectra of the phenol solution before and after photodegradation over ZFO-500. Formation of luminescent 2-hydroxyterephthalic acid from terephthalic acid. First-order fitting results of Congo red decolourization over ZFO samples. Zero-order fitting parameters of Rh B

Photocatalytic and adsorption properties of TiO₂-pillared montmorillonite obtained by hydrothermally activated intercalation of titanium polyhydroxo complexes

• Mikhail F. Butman,
• Nikolay L. Ovchinnikov,
• Nikita S. Karasev,
• Nataliya E. Kochkina,
• Alexander V. Agafonov and
• Alexandr V. Vinogradov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 364–378, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.36

• 8% and 4%, respectively, thus that process can be neglected. Prior to obtaining the kinetic curves of photodegradation for the MO and RhB solutions, the photocatalyst samples were exposed to solutions of respective dyes with constant stirring in the dark for 30 min to reach adsorption–desorption

Sugarcane juice derived carbon dot–graphitic carbon nitride composites for bisphenol A degradation under sunlight irradiation

• Lan Ching Sim,
• Jing Lin Wong,
• Chen Hong Hak,
• Jun Yan Tai,
• Kah Hon Leong and
• Pichiah Saravanan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 353–363, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.35

• radicals involved in the photoreaction. The influence order of the active radical species on the degradation of BPA was O2•− > h+ > hydroxyl radical (•OH) > e−. It is obvious that O2•− was the main radical species generated since the photodegradation of BPA was significantly inhibited after the addition of

Facile synthesis of silver/silver thiocyanate (Ag@AgSCN) plasmonic nanostructures with enhanced photocatalytic performance

• Xinfu Zhao,
• Dairong Chen,
• Abdul Qayum,
• Bo Chen and
• Xiuling Jiao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2781–2789, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.277

• showed that the photodegradation process of oxytetracycline nearly complied with the first-order kinetics, and the corresponding reaction rate constants (Ka) with M0, M1, M2, M3, M4 and M5 as catalysts were 0.0058, 0.0269, 0.02832, 0.01531, 0.01115, 0.006 min−1, respectively. The value of Ka for M2 was

• 4.8-fold faster than that of the bare AgSCN, so the existence of an appropriate amount of Ag played a prominent role in the photodegradation process. Electrochemical impedance spectrum (EIS) was used to illustrate the rate of charge transfer for the photocatalysts. Nyquist plots of M0, M1, M2, M3, M4

CdSe nanorod/TiO₂ nanoparticle heterojunctions with enhanced solar- and visible-light photocatalytic activity

• Fakher Laatar,
• Hatem Moussa,
• Halima Alem,
• Lavinia Balan,
• Emilien Girot,
• Ghouti Medjahdi,
• Hatem Ezzaouia and
• Raphaël Schneider

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2741–2752, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.273

• remove the CdSe/TiO2 photocatalyst. The relative concentration of RhB in the solution was determined by comparing its UV−visible absorption at 554 nm with that of the starting solution. The mechanism of RhB photodegradation in aqueous solution was investigated through the use of scavengers. t-BuOH and p

• photocatalyst, the photodegradation of RhB was found to be negligible. As shown in Figure 6a, the highest photocatalytic activity was reached for the CdSe (2 wt %)/TiO2 material which fully bleached the dye in 150 min. Thereafter, the activity decreases when increasing the amount of CdSe NRs associated to TiO2

• photodegradation of RhB over CdSe/TiO2 composites follows a pseudo-first-order kinetic model (C0 is the initial concentration of RhB and C is the concentration of the dye at time t). The rate constants k determined from the slopes of ln(C0/C) vs time were found to be 0.017, 0.012, 0.013, 0.019, and 0.014 min−1 for

AgCl-doped CdSe quantum dots with near-IR photoluminescence

• Pavel A. Kotin,
• Sergey S. Bubenov,
• Natalia E. Mordvinova and
• Sergey G. Dorofeev

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1156–1166, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.117

• to the nanocrystals. This is exactly the region, in which Ag2Se shows its most intense Bragg peaks [31]. From these data it can be concluded that Ag2Se was formed during the XRD measurements as a product of the photodegradation of CdSe–Ag NPs through the X-ray irradiation. Together these facts point

ZnO nanoparticles sensitized by CuInZn_xS_2+x quantum dots as highly efficient solar light driven photocatalysts

• Florian Donat,
• Serge Corbel,
• Halima Alem,
• Steve Pontvianne,
• Lavinia Balan,
• Ghouti Medjahdi and
• Raphaël Schneider

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1080–1093, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.110

• range by the photocatalyst but also acts to decrease electron/hole recombination. Interestingly, the ZnO/ZCIS composite was found to produce increased amounts of H2O2 and singlet oxygen 1O2 compared to ZnO, suggesting that these reactive oxygen species play a key role in the photodegradation mechanism

• composites prepared for the photocatalytic degradation of pollutants require a relatively large quantity of CIS nanocrystals to be complete (20 wt % CIS QDs relative to ZnO) [34][37]. When the ZCIS/ZnO weight ratio was decreased to ≈7%, the photodegradation never exceeded 80% even using a light source

• continuous stirring. Using a radiometer, the light intensity was estimated to be 5 mW/cm2. At regular intervals, 2 mL sample aliquots were withdrawn from the reaction flask and centrifuged (15,000 rpm for 2 min) to remove the photocatalyst. The photodegradation progress was monitored by measuring the UV–vis

Synthesis of graphene–transition metal oxide hybrid nanoparticles and their application in various fields

• Arpita Jana,
• Elke Scheer and
• Sebastian Polarz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 688–714, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.74

Investigation of the photocatalytic efficiency of tantalum alkoxy carboxylate-derived Ta₂O₅ nanoparticles in rhodamine B removal

• Subia Ambreen,
• Mohammad Danish,
• Narendra D. Pandey and
• Ashutosh Pandey

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 604–613, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.65

• with the Scherrer equation, are in the range of 15–28 nm. The samples attained good crystallinity after calcination at 750 °C. SEM micrographs show that the synthesized samples are almost spherical and agglomerate to some extent. The photodegradation of rhodamine B by the semiconductor photocatalyst

Selective photodissociation of tailored molecular tags as a tool for quantum optics

• Ugur Sezer,
• Philipp Geyer,
• Moritz Kriegleder,
• Maxime Debiossac,
• Armin Shayeghi,
• Markus Arndt,
• Lukas Felix and
• Marcel Mayor

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 325–333, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.35

• of the target trimer 1 by NMR spectroscopy to be able to analyse the products of the photodegradation. Due to the poor solubility of the trimer 1, these studies were made with the monomeric building block 4, which allowed for suitable concentrations in dichloromethane-d2 for the NMR experiment. In a

• the 3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)phenol (7) were observed during irradiation. Figure 2 displays the increase of the aldehyde proton (HA) at 10.35 ppm with increasing duration of the light exposure. The limited solubility of the trimer 1 prevented the investigation of its photodegradation by the same set-up

• solution spectra display the expected photodegradation of these model compounds in solution. Their optical properties and photoreaction pathways may, however, vary in high vacuum, where the stabilization of the intermediates by surrounding solvent molecules is no longer possible and bathochromic line

Photocatalysis applications of some hybrid polymeric composites incorporating TiO₂ nanoparticles and their combinations with SiO₂/Fe₂O₃

• Andreea Laura Chibac,
• Tinca Buruiana,
• Violeta Melinte and
• Emil C. Buruiana

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 272–286, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.30

• nanoparticles and hybrid polymeric composites with 10 wt % NPs (S1–S4) was realized through XRD, TEM and FTIR analyses. The mean size (10–30 nm) and the crystallinity of the NPs varied as a function of the inorganic constituent. The catalytic activity of these hybrid films was tested for the photodegradation of

• an amine function (dopamine). The photodegradation experiments for these model pollutants were performed under ambient conditions, under UV irradiation with low intensity (ca. 8 mW/cm2) to imitate the UV radiation from solar light, as well as under irradiation with visible light. The degradation

• collected during UV irradiation in the presence of S1 and S4 hybrid films. As can be observed, the absorption band of phenol underwent a gradual decrease because of its photodegradation without any change in the shape and position (after 250 min irradiation). Furthermore, for determining the phenol

Optical and photocatalytic properties of TiO₂ nanoplumes

• Viviana Scuderi,
• Massimo Zimbone,
• Maria Miritello,
• Giuseppe Nicotra,
• Giuliana Impellizzeri and
• Vittorio Privitera

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 190–195, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.20

• of the synthesized material and related them to the efficiency of UV photodegradation of methylene blue dye. The obtained results show that TiO2 nanoplumes act as an effective antireflective layer increasing the UV photocatalytic yield of the film. Keywords: black titania; nanostructures

• Ti films as an easy, rapid, and low-cost method to synthesize hydrogenated TiO2 nanoplumes with significant photocatalytic properties under UV and visible light irradiation. Here we report the optical properties of the TiO2 nanoplumes and their correlation with the efficiency of UV photodegradation

Organoclay hybrid materials as precursors of porous ZnO/silica-clay heterostructures for photocatalytic applications

• Marwa Akkari,
• Pilar Aranda,
• Abdessalem Ben Haj Amara and
• Eduardo Ruiz-Hitzky

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1971–1982, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.188

• observed in the MB photodegradation study, ZnO nanoparticles alone exhibit a higher activity compared to the activity of the heterostructures, reaching 84% of ibuprofen decomposition after 6 h of irradiation. This feature could be tentatively explained by admitting a more effective UV shielding in the

• M) of MB as a function of the UV irradiation time in presence of the heterostructures (experiments carried out at 17 °C): (A) ZnO/SiO2-CLO, (B) ZnO/SiO2-TSM and (C) ZnO/SiO2-SEP. “Photolysis” corresponds to photodegradation of MB in the absence of catalyst. “Photolysis” and ZnO(NP) data are the same