In-Situ Hydrothermal Synthesis of Bi–Bi2O2CO3 Heterojunction Photocatalyst with Enhanced Visible Light Photocatalytic Activity

Bismuth containing nanomaterials recently received increasing attention with respect to environmental applications because of their low cost, high stability and nontoxicity. In this work, Bi–Bi_2O_2CO_3 heterojunctions were fabricated by in-situ decoration of Bi nanoparticles on Bi_2O_2CO_3 nanosheets via a simple hydrothermal synthesis approach. X-ray diffraction(XRD), scanning electron microscopy(SEM), transmission electron microscopy(TEM) and high-resolution TEM(HRTEM) were used to confirm the morphology of the nanosheet-like heterostructure of the Bi–Bi_2O_2CO_3 composite. Detailed ultrafast electronic spectroscopy reveals that the in-situ decoration of Bi nanoparticles on Bi_2O_2CO_3 nanosheets exhibit a dramatically enhanced electron-hole pair separation rate, which results in an extraordinarily high photocatalytic activity for the degradation of a model organic dye, methylene blue(MB) under visible light illumination. Cycling experiments revealed a good photochemical stability of the Bi–Bi_2O_2CO_3 heterojunction under repeated irradiation. Photocurrent measurements further indicated that the heterojunction incredibly enhanced the charge generation and suppressed the charge recombination of photogenerated electron-hole pairs.

Preparation and characterization of visible-light-active nitrogen-doped TiO_2 photocatalyst

A visible-light photocatalyst was prepared by calcination of the hydrolysis product of Ti(SO_4)_2 with ammonia as precipitator. The color of this photocatalyst was vivid yellow. It could absorb light under 550 nm wavelength. The crystal structure of anatase was characterized by XRD. The structure analysis result of X-ray fluorescence(XRF) shows that doped-nitrogen was presented in the sample. The photocatalytic activities were evaluated using methyl orange and phenol as model pollutants. The photocatalytic activities of samples were increasing gradually with calcination temperature from 400℃ to 700℃ under UV irradiation. It can be seen that the degradation of methyl orange follows zero-order kinetics. However, the calcination temperatures have no significant influence on the degradation of phenol under sunlight. The N-doped catalyst shows higher activity than the bare one under solar irradiation.

Study on photocatalytic activity of MoS2/ZnO composite in visible light

A series of MoS_2/ZnO compound photocatalysts with different mass ratios were successfully prepared by hydrothermal method. The X-ray diffraction(XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS), scanning electron microscope(SEM) and UV-vis absorption were used to characterize the prepared MoS_2/ZnO photocatalysts. It was proved that the combination of Mo S2 and Zn O can increase the content of oxygen vacancies on surface of Zn O, thus improving the light absorption capacity in visible light region and reducing the band gap of Zn O. And the photocatalytic performance of Zn O was improved. Experimental results show that the MoS_2/ZnO(3 wt%) compound has the highest degradation rate for methylene blue(MB) under visible light, which means that it has the best photocatalytic activity among all the prepared samples.

Visible light-driven photocatalysis of W,N co-doped TiO_2

W, N co-doped TiO2 nanoparticles were synthesized by a sol-gel method. The prepared samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction （XRD）, field emission scanning electron microscopy （FE-SEM）, trans- mission electron microscopy （TEM）, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy （FT-1R）, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy （XPS） and diffuse reflectance spectrophotometry （DRS）. The results showed that the co- doped photocatalysts were essentially uniform spherical particles with the smallest particle size of 22.5 nm. Compared to un-doped TiO2, N-TiO2 and P-25, the absorption edge of the W, N co-doped TiO2 shifted to longer wavelength and its photocatalytic activity for degradation of methyl orange （MO） under Xe-lamp （350W） was higher.

Visible and near-infrared light activated azo dyes

The photoisomerization properties of azo derivatives have been widely used in the fields of materials and biology.One serious restriction to the development of functional azo-based materials is the necessity to trigger switching by UV light,which damage the corresponding surfaces and penetrate only partially through the matter.Therefore,developing the visible and near-infrared light activated azo switches can solve this problem.This review provides a summary of molecular design strategies for driving the isomerization of azo derivatives with visible light and near-infrared light:(1) smart design directly excited by visible light,(2) the addition of upconversion nanoparticles,(3) the employment of twophoton absorption,(4) indirect excitation in combination with metal sensitizer.

The electron structure and photocatalytic activity of Ti(IV) doped Bi_2O_3

Density functional theory （DFT） plays a significant role in the development of visible light responsive photocatalysts. Based on the first-principles plane-wave ultrasoft pseudopotential （USPP） method, the crystal structures of α,β,γ, and 5-Bi2O3 were optimally calculated for the total density of states （TDOS） and the partial density of states （PDOS） of Bi, O atoms. The calculation for Ti（IV） doped Bi2O3 supercell was carried out. The effects of Ti（IV）-doping on the electron structures and light absorption properties of various Bi2O3 were analyzed. The results showed that Ti 3d orbital appeared in the forbidden band of Bi2O3 and hybridized with O 2p, Bi 6p orbitals. The narrowed band gap （Eg） and red-shift of light absorption edge are responsible for the enhanced photoeatalytic activity of Bi2O3. The Ⅱ-Bi2O3 and Ti-doped β-Bi2O3 were prepared by a hydrotherrnal synthesis method. The improvement of the photoeatalytic activity of Bi2O3 has also been verified by the characteristics of the UV-vis diffuse reflection spectrum and the experimental evaluation of the photocatalytic degradation of crystal violet in aqueous solution.

Band gap engineered polymeric-inorganic nanocomposite catalysts:Synthesis, isothermal stability, photocatalytic activity and photovoltaic performance

Polymeric-inorganic nanocomposite catalysts were synthesized by facile one-pot chemical polymerization of pyrrole in the presence of titanium dioxide nanoparticles. The electrical, optical, photovoltaic performance of dye sensitized solar cell（DSSC） and visible light driven photocatalytic activities of the nanocomposite were investigated. The prepared nanocomposite displays excellent photo-activity, attaining 100% degradation of methyl orange dye in 60 min under visible light source while 55% for pure TiO_2 under similar experimental conditions. The photovoltaic performance of the polypyrrole-titanium dioxide（PPy-TiO_2） nanocomposite has a 51.4% improvement with a photo-conversion efficiency of 8.07% as compared to pure TiO_2 based DSSC. By comparing the physical mixture of the PPy-TiO_2 nanocomposite and pristine TiO_2, the enhanced activity of the PPy-TiO_2 nanocomposite can be attributed to the reduced charge transfer resistance, outstanding electrical conductance of the PPy, the nano-sized structure of TiO_2 and their synergetic effect. Furthermore, the PPy-TiO_2 nanocomposite shows excellent electrical conductivity and isothermal stability under ambient conditions below 110？C.