The heterogeneous photo-Fenton degradation of coomasie brilliant blue R–250 under visible light has been investigated using copper modified iron oxide, which has been prepared by coprecipitation method and characterized by IR spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The rate of photocatalytic degradation of dye follows pseudo-first order kinetics. The effects of various...

The present study examined the gas-phase photocatalytic degradation of toluene using ZnO-SnO2 nanocomposite supported on activated carbon in a photocatalytic reactor. Toluene was selected as a model pollutant from volatile organic compounds to determine the pathway of photocatalytic degradation and the factors influencing this degradation. The ZnO-SnO2 nanocomposite was synthesized through co-p...

Semiconductor photocatalysts have attracted increased attention due to their great potential for solving energy and environmental problems. The formation of Z-scheme photocatalytic systems that mimic natural photosynthesis is a promising strategy to improve photocatalytic activity that is superior to single component photocatalysts. The connection between photosystem I (PS I) and photosystem II...

We propose several superiorities of applying some particular metal sulfides to the photocatalytic nitrate reduction in aqueous solution, including the high density of photogenerated excitons, high N2 selectivity (without over-reduction to ammonia). Indeed, ZnCr2S4 behaved as a highly efficient photocatalyst, and with the assistance of 1 wt% cocatalysts (RuOx, Ag, Au, Pd, or Pt), the efficiency ...

Zinc sulfide is a promising catalyst due to its abundance, low cost, low toxicity and conduction band position that enables the photoreduction of CO2 to formic acid. This study is the first to examine experimentally the photocatalytic differences between wurtzite and sphalerite under the parameters of size (micrometer and nanoscale), crystal lattice, surface area, and band gap on productivity i...

We report a nickel complex containing a conjugated bis-dithiocarbazate ligand that is an active catalyst for the reduction of protons into hydrogen gas. Light-driven hydrogen generation is observed from a system containing this molecular nickel catalyst coupled with a fluorescein photosensitizer and triethylamine sacrificial donor. The photocatalytic system is stable for over 70 hours, achievin...

It is known that TiO2 exhibits good photocatalytic properties which could be used in various commercial applications such as water and air purification or photo-induced biodegradation of microbes. TiO2 occurs in nature in the form of three crystal polymorphs: anatase, brookite and rutile. For photocatalytic applications only anatase and rutile are of interest, however anatase shows greater phot...

A novel heterostructure was first synthesized by directly depositing photocatalytic inert ZnO2 onto facet {201} of brookite nanorods. The heterostructure thus obtained was found to show a superior photocatalytic activity under UV-light irradiation. The exceptional photocatalytic performance was due to the band-structure match between ZnO2 and brookite as well as synergic charge accumulation by ...

To investigate the effect of Gd doping on photocatalytic activity of BiFeO3 (BFO), Gd-doped BFO nanoparticles containing different Gd doping contents (Bi(1-x)GdxFeO3, x = 0.00, 0.01, 0.03, 0.05) were synthesized using a facile sol-gel route. The obtained products were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectra,...

A novel core-shell composite photocatalyst, commercially available titanium(IV) oxide (TiO(2)) particles directly incorporated into a hollow amorphous silica shell, was fabricated by successive coating of TiO(2) with a carbon layer and a silica layer followed by heat treatment to remove the carbon layer. The composite induced efficient photocatalytic reactions when relatively small substrates w...