Ti-Fe_(2)O_(3)/Ni(OH)_(x) as an efficient and durable photoanode for the photoelectrochemical catalysis of PET plastic to formic acid

Photoelectrochemical(PEC) technology provides a promising prospect for the transformation of polyethylene terephthalate(PET) plastic wastes to produce value-added chemicals.The PEC catalytic systems with high activity,selectivity and long-term durability are required for the future up-scaling industrial applications.Herein,we employed the interfacial modification strategy to develop an efficient and stable photoanode and evaluated its PEC activity for ethylene glycol(EG,derived from PET hydrolysate) oxidation to formic acid.The interfacial modification between Fe_(2)O_(3)semiconductor and Ni(OH)xcocatalyst with ultrathin TiO_(x) interlayer not only improved the photocurrent density by accelerating the kinetics of photogenerated charge carriers,but also kept the high Faradaic efficiency(over 95% in 30 h) towards the value-added formic acid product.This work proposes an effective method to promote the PEC activity and enhance the long-term stability of photoelectrodes for upcycling PET plastic wastes.

Photocatalytic remediation of ionic pollutant

Recently, the photocatalysts have attracted lots of attention and efforts due to their great potential for environmental remediation application. Toxic ions in water are an increasing environmental pollutant with the fast development. Numerous researches have been made to develop photocatalysts to treat ionic pollutants under the illumination of ultraviolet light and visible light. Here, photocatalytic remediation of toxic ionic pollutants has been reviewed. This review summarized and discussed various photocatalysts including TiO〉 modified TiO2, metal oxides, metalsulfides, and nitrides and their recent progress in removing ionic pollutants such as heavy metal ion. The latest achievements and their future prospects of photocatalytic remediation of ion pollutant have also been reviewed.

Effective removal of chlorinated organic pollutants by bimetallic iron-nickel sulfide activation of peroxydisulfate

Chlorinated organic pollutants(COPs)have caused serious contaminants in soil and groundwater,hence developing methods to remove these pollutants is necessary and urgent.By a simple hydrothermal method,we synthesized the bimetallic iron-nickel sulfide(FeNiS)particles which exhibited excellent catalytic property of COPs removal.FeNiS was chosen as the peroxydisulfate(PDS)activator to removal COPs including 4-chlorophenol(4-CP),1,4-dichlorophenol(1,4-DCP)and 2,4,6-trichlorophenol(2,4,6-TCP).The results show that FeNiS can efficiently activate PDS to produce sulfate radical(SO4·-)which plays major role in the oxidative dechlorination and degradation due to its strong oxidizing property and the ability of producing hydroxyl radicals(·OH)in the alkaline condition.Meanwhile,the Cl-abscised from COPs during the dechlorination can turn into the chlorine radicals and enhance the degradation and cause further mineralization of intermediate products.This bimetallic FeNiS catalyst is a promising PDS activator for removal of chlorinated organics.

Secondary battery inspired ɑ-nickel hydroxide as an efficient Ni-based heterogeneous catalyst for sulfate radical activation

Highly reactive radical species play an important role in syn-thetic chemistry, industrial processes, and environmental remedi-ation applications [1,2]. The radicals can be formed by eitherthermal decomposition of highly active oxidants or by catalyticactivation of stable oxidants under mild conditions [2]. Recently,the sulfate radical （.504） with its advantages of strong oxidizingpower, selective reactivity, and stability over a broad range of pHhas emerged as an excellent and versatile oxidant for a variety ofapplication [5].

A simple fabrication of CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite for solar cells using low-purity PbI2

The CH3NH3PbI3（MAPbI3）perovskite was usually prepared by high-purity PbI2 with high cost.The low cost and low-purity PbI2 was seldom reported for fabrication of MAPW3 because it cannot even dissolve well in widely adopted solvent of DMF.We developed an easy method to adapt low-purity PbI2 for fabrication of high quality MAPbI3 just by the simple addition of some hydrochloric acid into the mixture of low-purity PbI2,MAI and DMF.This straightforward method can not only help dissolve the low quality PbI2 by reacting with some impurities in DMF,but also lead to a successful fabrication of high-quality perovskite solar cells with up to 14.80%efficiency comparable to the high quality PbI2 precursors.

Mechanochemically sulfured FeS1.92 as stable and efficient heterogeneous Fenton catalyst

Fenton reaction is one of most promising approaches for efficient removal of various robust organic pollutants in wastewater,however it faces several intrinsic challenges such as acidic condition,sludge waste and sensitive to sulfide-containing compound.Here we reported a novel FeS1.92 as an efficient and sulfide resistant heterogeneous Fenton catalyst under mild condition.This novel FeS1.92 was facilely prepared through a mechanochemical synthesis of mackinawite(FeS) with sulfur powder(S) by ball milling.The sulfured mackinawite(FeS1.92) exhibits high performance in activating H2 O2 to generate hydroxyle radicals for organic waste remediation.Furthermore,this FeS1.92 based heterogeneous Fenton catalyst is highly sulfide resistant and shows improved performance for degrading sulfide-containing organic pollutants.This study provides an effective mechanochemical approach to fabricate heterogeneous Fenton catalysts for sulfide-containing wastewater treatment.