The hybrid of graphite oxide (GO)/TiO(2) was prepared through the spontaneous exfoliation of bulky graphite oxide and reorganization with TiO(2) nanoparticles as a solar conversion and hydrogen-generating photocatalyst. GO/TiO(2) showed enhanced activities for both photocurrent generation (in an electrode form) and hydrogen production (in a slurry form) than those of bare TiO(2) under UV light ...

A highly efficient third generation catalyst, CaCu3Ti4O12 (CCTO) shows excellent photoelectrochemical (PEC) and photocatalytic ability. As only 4% part of the solar spectrum covers UV light, thus it is highly desirable to develop visible light active photocatalyst materials like CCTO for effective solar energy conversion. A direct band transition with a narrow band gap (1.5 eV) was observed. Un...

Two-dimensional (2D) layered nanostructure composites are promising candidates for conducting high-performance energy conversion and environmental remediation. The construction of 2D layered composite photocatalysts can generate many unique properties that do not exist in other kinds of semiconductor composite photocatalyst, which are beneficial for photocatalytic performance enhancement, band ...

In this work, we report a new photocatalytic system that links multifunctional semiconductor nanocrystals with emerging water-soluble molecular catalysts made of earth-abundant elements for H2 generation [Ni(P2RN2R')2(BF4)2]4-, R = Ph, R' = [PhSO3]- (NiS). This noble metal free hybrid exhibits remarkable catalytic activity with a turnover number of 511 for H2 production and a photon-to-H2 conve...

Herein, we reported a octahedral Cd3(C3N3S3)2 coordination polymer as a new noble metal-free photocatalyst for robust photocatalytic H2O2 production from methanol/water solution. The coordination polymer can give an unprecedented H2O2 yield of ca. 110.0 mmol • L(-1) • g(-1) at pH = 2.8 under visible light illumination. The characterization results clearly revealed that the photocatalytic H2O2 p...

A photocatalyst Sr(0.4)H(1.2)Nb(2)O(6)·H(2)O (HSN) nanopolyhedra with high surface area has been successfully prepared by a simple hydrothermal method. The as-prepared samples were characterized by XRD, BET, SEM, TEM and XPS. The electronic structure of HSN determined by DFT calculations and electrochemical measurement revealed that HSN is an indirect-bandgap and n-type semiconductor, respectiv...

Photocatalytic approaches using two sets of semiconductor particles and a pair of redox-shuttle mediators are considered as a safe and economic solution for solar water splitting. Here, accurate experimental characterization techniques for photocatalytic half reactions are reported, investigating the gas as well as the liquid products. The methods are exemplified utilizing photocatalytic titani...

Semiconductor-based photocatalytic, photoelectrochemical, and photovoltaic solar-energy conversion has been considered very promising to address the energy and environmental challenges. At the heart of the technology is the lack of suitable semiconductor materials and efficient systems that can perform the solar-energy conversion efficiently and inexpensively. Much work needs to be done in this...

We examined the photochemical properties of well-ordered multilayer films of titania nanosheets prepared on quartz-glass substrate using the layer-by-layer deposition method. The photocatalytic decomposition of gaseous 2-propanol and bleaching of Methylene Blue dye under UV light illumination were measured to evaluate the photocatalytic oxidation ability. Photoinduced hydrophilicity was also st...

Solar-driven photocatalytic conversion of CO2 into fuels has attracted a lot of interest; however, developing active catalysts that can selectively convert CO2 to fuels with desirable reaction products remains a grand challenge. For instance, complete suppression of the competing H2 evolution during photocatalytic CO2-to-CO conversion has not been achieved before. We design and synthesize a spo...