CAEFusion: A New Convolutional Autoencoder-Based Infrared and Visible Light Image Fusion Algorithm

To address the issues of incomplete information,blurred details,loss of details,and insufficient contrast in infrared and visible image fusion,an image fusion algorithm based on a convolutional autoencoder is proposed.The region attention module is meant to extract the background feature map based on the distinct properties of the background feature map and the detail feature map.A multi-scale convolution attention module is suggested to enhance the communication of feature information.At the same time,the feature transformation module is introduced to learn more robust feature representations,aiming to preserve the integrity of image information.This study uses three available datasets from TNO,FLIR,and NIR to perform thorough quantitative and qualitative trials with five additional algorithms.The methods are assessed based on four indicators:information entropy(EN),standard deviation(SD),spatial frequency(SF),and average gradient(AG).Object detection experiments were done on the M3FD dataset to further verify the algorithm’s performance in comparison with five other algorithms.The algorithm’s accuracy was evaluated using the mean average precision at a threshold of 0.5(mAP@0.5)index.Comprehensive experimental findings show that CAEFusion performs well in subjective visual and objective evaluation criteria and has promising potential in downstream object detection tasks.

Deep learning-assisted common temperature measurement based on visible light imaging

Real-time,contact-free temperature monitoring of low to medium range(30℃-150℃)has been extensively used in industry and agriculture,which is usually realized by costly infrared temperature detection methods.This paper proposes an alternative approach of extracting temperature information in real time from the visible light images of the monitoring target using a convolutional neural network(CNN).A mean-square error of<1.119℃was reached in the temperature measurements of low to medium range using the CNN and the visible light images.Imaging angle and imaging distance do not affect the temperature detection using visible optical images by the CNN.Moreover,the CNN has a certain illuminance generalization ability capable of detection temperature information from the images which were collected under different illuminance and were not used for training.Compared to the conventional machine learning algorithms mentioned in the recent literatures,this real-time,contact-free temperature measurement approach that does not require any further image processing operations facilitates temperature monitoring applications in the industrial and civil fields.

A CSMA/CA based MAC protocol for hybrid Power-line/Visible-light communication networks:Design and analysis

Hybrid Power-line/Visible-light Communication(HPVC)network has been one of the most promising Cooperative Communication(CC)technologies for constructing Smart Home due to its superior communication reliability and hardware efficiency.Current research on HPVC networks focuses on the performance analysis and optimization of the Physical(PHY)layer,where the Power Line Communication(PLC)component only serves as the backbone to provide power to light Emitting Diode(LED)devices.So designing a Media Access Control(MAC)protocol remains a great challenge because it allows both PLC and Visible Light Communication(VLC)components to operate data transmission,i.e.,to achieve a true HPVC network CC.To solve this problem,we propose a new HPC network MAC protocol(HPVC MAC)based on Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Avoidance(CSMA/CA)by combining IEEE 802.15.7 and IEEE 1901 standards.Firstly,we add an Additional Assistance(AA)layer to provide the channel selection strategies for sensor stations,so that they can complete data transmission on the selected channel via the specified CSMA/CA mechanism,respectively.Based on this,we give a detailed working principle of the HPVC MAC,followed by the construction of a joint analytical model for mathematicalmathematical validation of the HPVC MAC.In the modeling process,the impacts of PHY layer settings(including channel fading types and additive noise feature),CSMA/CA mechanisms of 802.15.7 and 1901,and practical configurations(such as traffic rate,transit buffer size)are comprehensively taken into consideration.Moreover,we prove the proposed analytical model has the solvability.Finally,through extensive simulations,we characterize the HPVC MAC performance under different system parameters and verify the correctness of the corresponding analytical model with an average error rate of 4.62%between the simulation and analytical results.

Synthesis of C-Cl-codoped titania/attapulgite composites with enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity

We demonstrate the synthesis of C-Cl-codoped titania/attapulgite（TiO2/ATT） composites containing a mixture of TiO2 phases by a facile sol-gel method at 70 ℃ using titanium tetraisopropoxide as the TiO2 precursor and ATT as a support for the TiO2 nanoparticles.The photocatalytic activity of the C-Cl-codoped TiO2/ATT composites with mixed anatase/brookite/rutile phases obtained at pH= 3.0 was much higher than that of commercially available Degussa P25 for the photocatalytic degradation of acid red G under visible-light irradiation.The excellent photocatalytic activity of the developed composite originates from the nonmetal codoping,which extends the absorption edge of TiO2 into visible region,and the presence of multiple phases,which slow the recombination of photoexcited electron/hole pairs.The formation of hydroxyl radicals during the photocatalytic degradation process was detected by photoluminescence probing using terephthalic acid.A mechanism for photocatalysis over the C-Cl-codoped TiO2/ATT composites was proposed.

Preparation of spherical activated carbon-supported and Er^(3+):YAlO_3-doped TiO_2 photocatalyst for methyl orange degradation under visible light

In order to develop the high photocatalytic activity of TiO2 under visible light as that under ultraviolet light and make it easy to be separated from treated liquor, a visible light response and spherical activated carbon （SAC） supported photocatalyst doped with upconversion luminescence agent Er3＋：YAlO3 was prepared by immobilizing Er3＋：YAlO3/TiO2, which was obtained by combination of Er3＋：YAlO3 and TiO2 using sol-gel method, on the surface of SAC. The crystal phase composition, surface structure and element distribution, and light absorption of the new photocatalysts were examined by X-ray diffraction （XRD）, energy dispersive X-ray spectra （EDS） analysis, scanning electron microscopy （SEM） and fluorescence spectra analysis （FSA）. The photocatalytic oxidation activity of the photocatalysts was also evaluated by the photodegradation of methyl orange （MO） in aqueous solution under visible light irradiation from a LED lamp （λ400 nm）. The results showed that Er3＋：YAlO3 could perform as the upconversion luminescence agent which converts the visible light up to ultraviolet light. The Er3＋：YAlO3/TiO2 calcinated at 700 °C revealed the highest photocatalytic activity. The apparent reaction rate constant could reach 0.0197 min-1 under visible light irradiation.

Three-dimensional MoS_2/reduced graphene oxide aerogel as a macroscopic visible-light photocatalyst

Photocatalysis is regarded as an ideal technology for solving the urgent environmental and energy issues that we face today.Among the reported photocatalysts,molybdenum disulfide（MoS2） is very promising for applications in hydrogen production and pollutant photodegradation.However,its lack of active sites and the difficulty of recovering catalysts in powder form have hindered its wide application.Here,we report the successful preparation of a macroscopic visible-light responsive MoS2/reduced graphene oxide（MoS2/RGO） aerogel.The obtained MoS2/RGO aerogel exhibits enhanced photocatalytic activity towards hydrogen production and photoreduction of Cr（Ⅵ） in comparison with the MoS2 powder.In addition,the low density（56.1 mg/cm^3） of the MoS2/RGO aerogel enables it to be used as an efficient adsorption material for organic pollutants.Our results demonstrate that this very promising multifunctional aerogel has potential applications in environmental remediation and clean energy production.

Solvent-assisted synthesis of porous g-C_3N_4 with efficient visible-light photocatalvtic performance for NO removal

Graphitic carbon nitride（g-C3N4） with efficient photocatalytic activity was synthesized through thermal polymerization of thiourea with the addition of water（CN-W） or ethanol（CN-E） at 550 ℃for 2 h.The physicochemical properties of the g-C3N4 were investigated by X-ray diffraction,transmission electron microscopy,ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy,photoluminescence spectroscopy,diffuse-reflection spectroscopy,BET and BJH surface area characterization,and elemental analysis.The carbon content was found to have self-doped into the g-C3N4 matrix during the thermal polymerization of thiourea and ethanol.CN-W and CN-E showed considerably enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity,with NO removal percentages of 37.2%and 48.3%,respectively.Compared with pure g-C3N4,both the short and long lifetimes of the charge carriers in CN-W and CN-E were found to be prolonged.The mechanism of improved visible-light photocatalytic activity was deduced.The present work may provide a facile route to optimize the microstructure of g-C3N4photocatalysts for high-performance environmental and energy applications.

Electrodeposition of Cu_2O/g-C_3N_4 heterojunction film on an FTO substrate for enhancing visible light photoelectrochemical water splitting

An immobilized Cu2O/g-C3N4 heterojunction film was successfully made on an FTO substrate by electrophoretic deposition of g-C3N4 on a Cu2O thin film.The photoelectrochemical（PEC） performance for water splitting by the Cu2O/g-C3N4 film was better than pure g-C3N4 and pure Cu2O film.Under-0.4 V external bias and visible light irradiation,the photocurrent density and PEC hydrogen evolution efficiency of the optimized Cu2O/g-C3N4 film was-1.38 mA/cm^2 and 0.48 mL h^-1 cm^-2,respectively.The enhanced PEC performance of Cu2O/g-C3N4 was attributed to the synergistic effect of light coupling and a matching energy band structure between g-C3N4 and Cu2O as well as the external bias.

Novel visible-light-responding InVO_4-Cu_2O-TiO_2 ternary nanoheterostructure: Preparation and photocatalytic characteristics

A novel visible-light-responding InVO4-Cu2O-TiO2 ternary nanoheterostructure was designed on the basis of the strategy of energy gap engineering and prepared through ordinary wet chemistry methods. The as-prepared nanoheterostructure was characterized by X-ray powder diffraction（XRD）, transmission electron microscopy（TEM）, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy（HRTEM） and diffuse reflectance ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy（UV-vis/DRS）. The TEM and HRTEM images of 10%InVO4-40%Cu2O-50%TiO2 confirm the formation of nanoheterostructures resulting from contact of the nanosized TiO2, Cu2O and InVO4 in the size of 5–20 nm in diameter. The InVO4-Cu2O-TiO2 nanoheterostructure, when compared with TiO2, Cu2O, InVO4, InVO4-TiO2 and Cu2O-TiO2, shows significant enhancement in the photocatalytic performance for the degradation of methyl orange（MO） under visible-light irradiation. With a 9 W energy-saving fluorescent lamp as the visible-light source, the MO degradation rate of 10%InVO4-40%Cu2O-50%TiO2 reaches close to 90% during 5 h, and the photocatalytic efficiency is maintained at over 90% after six cycles. This may be mainly ascribed to the matched bandgap configurations of TiO2, Cu2O and InVO4, and the formations of two p-n junctions by the p-type semiconductor Cu2O with the n-type semiconductors TiO2 and InVO4, all of which favor spatial photogenerated charge carrier separation. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy（XPS） characterization for the used 10%InVO4-40%Cu2O-50%TiO2 reveals that only a small shakeup satellite peak appears for Cu（II） species, implying bearable photocorrosion of Cu2O. This work could provide new insight into the design and preparation of novel visible-light-responding semiconductor composites.

Enhanced visible-light photo-oxidation of nitric oxide using bismuth-coupled graphitic carbon nitride composite heterostructures

Pure bismuth（Bi） metal-modified graphitic carbon nitride（g-C3N4） composites（Bi-CN） with a pomegranate-like structure were prepared by an in situ method.The Bi-CN composites were used as photocatalysts for the oxidation of nitric oxide（NO） under visible-light irradiation.The inclusion of pure Bi metal in the g-C3N4 layers markedly improved the light absorption of the Bi-CN composites from the ultraviolet to the near-infrared region because of the typical surface plasmon resonance of Bi metal.The separation and transfer of photogenerated charge carriers were greatly accelerated by the presence of built-in Mott-Schottky effects at the interface between Bi metal and g-C3N4.As a result,the Bi-CN composite photocatalysts exhibited considerably enhanced efficiency in the photocatalytic removal of NO compared with that of Bi metal or g-C3N4 alone.The pomegranate-like structure of the Bi-CN composites and an explanation for their improved photocatalytic activity were proposed.This work not only provides a design for highly efficient g-C3N4-based photocatalysts through modification with Bi metal,but also offers new insights into the mechanistic understanding of g-C3N4-based photo catalysis.

An organic visible-photocatalytic-adsorbence mechanism to high-efficient removal of heavy metal antimony ions

Purification of emerging heavy metal antimony contaminated water based on advanced ingenious strategies.An activated modified coconut shell charcoal(CSC)was synthesized and evaluated as a substrate-supported loaded organic photovoltaic material,PM6:PYIT:PM6-b-PYIT,to prepare a surprisingly highly efficient,stable,environmentally friendly,and recyclable organic photocatalyst(CSC–N–P.P.P),which showed excellent effects on the simultaneous removal of Sb(Ⅲ)and Sb(Ⅴ).The removal efficiency of CSC-N-P.P.P on Sb(Ⅲ)and Sb(Ⅴ)reached an amazing 99.9%in quite a short duration of 15 min.At the same time,under ppb level and indoor visible light(~1 W m^(2)),it can be treated to meet the drinking water standards set by the European Union and the U.S.National Environmental Protection Agency in 5 min,and even after 25 cycles of recycling,the efficiency is still maintained at about 80%,in addition to the removal of As(Ⅲ),Cd(Ⅱ),Cr(Ⅵ),and Pb(Ⅱ)can also be realized.The catalyst not only solves the problems of low reuse rate,difficult structure adjustment and high energy consumption of traditional photocatalysts but also has strong applicability and practical significance.The pioneering approach provides a much-needed solution strategy for removing highly toxic heavy metal antimony pollution from the environment.

Visible light induced photodegradation of organic pollutants on nitrogen and fluorine co-doped TiO_2 photocatalyst

The nitrogen and fluorine co doped TiO 2 polycrystalline powder was synthesized by calcinations of the hydrolysis product of tetra butyl titanate with ammonium fluoride. Nitrogen and fluorine co doping causes the absorption edge of TiO 2 to shift to a lower energy region. The photocatalytic activity of co doped TiO 2 with anatase phases was found to be 2 4 times higher than that of the commercial TiO 2 photocatalyst Degussa P25 for phenol decomposition under visible light irradiation. The co doped TiO 2 powders only contain anatase phases even at 1000℃. Apparently, ammonium fluoride added retarded phase transformation of the TiO 2 powders from anatase to rutile. The substitutional fluorine and interstitial nitrogen atoms in co doped TiO 2 polycrystalline powder were responsible for the vis light response and caused the absorption edge of TiO 2 to shift to a lower energy region.

Mitigation of inter-cell interference in visible light communication

This paper proposes the orthogonal and nonorthogonal schemes in the interference environments for visible light communication（ VLC） systems. The proposed schemes pay attention to the case when different bit streams from multiple cells are simultaneously transmitted, which consequently causes inter-cell interference（ ICI） and greatly deteriorates the bit error rate（ BER） and channel capacity performance of the system. The performance of the newdeveloped multi-cell system in indoor VLC systems is evaluated. The bipolar phase shift keying（ BPSK） modulation scheme with orthogonal pulses（ OPs） for multiple cells environments is employed to mitigate the ICI problem and improve the BER and channel capacity performances. Since the use of different OPs in each cell requires more number of OPs, which requires high bandwidth, OPs are reused at certain distances. Three different schemes, which are OPs,orthogonal and non-orthogonal pulses（ NOP） reuse, are compared. This paper investigates the impact of using these schemes and compared their performances in the ICI environments. The BER and channel capacity using the proposed schemes are comprehensively examined. Simulation and theoretical results showthat the OPs schemes are more effective in the interference areas of the room and significantly outperform NOP.

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.

Synthesis of BiVO_4 nanosheets-graphene composites toward improved visible light photoactivity

Two-dimensional （2-D） BiVO4 nanosheets-graphene （GR） composites with different weight addition ratios of GR have been prepared via a facile wet chemistry process. X-ray diffraction （XRD）, Raman spectra, X-ray photoelectron spectra （XPS）, UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectra （DRS）, field-emission scanning electron microscopy （FE-SEM）, transmission electron microscopy （TEM）, nitrogen adsorption-desorption, transient photocurrent response and photoluminescence （PL） spectra were employed to determine the properties of the samples. It is found that BiVO4 nanosheets could pave well on the surface of graphene sheets. BiVO4 nanosheets-GR composites with a proper addition amount of GR exhibited higher photocatalytic activity than bare BiVO4 nanosheets toward liquid-phase degradation of rhodamine B （RhB） and methyl orange （MO） under visible light irradiation. The enhancement of photocatalytic activities of BiVO4 nanosheets-GR composites can be attributed to the effective separation of photoexcited electron-hole pairs. This work not only provides a simple strategy for fabricating specific 2-D semiconductor-2-D GR composites, but also opens a new window of such 2-D semiconductor-2-D GR composites as visible light photocatalysts toward an improved visible light photoactivity in purifying polluted water resources.

Semiconducting Mineralogical Characteristics of Natural Sphalerite Gestating Visible-light Photocatalysis

Natural sphalerite as a natural cost-effective photocatalyst was characterized and its visible light photocatalytic activity was investigated in terms of substituting ions, impurity phases and surface defects. The substitutions of metal ions for Zn2＋ alter the band structure and result in the visible light response. The coexistence of impurity semiconductors and nanosized particles in natural sphalerite samples help to prolong the lifetime of electron-hole pairs. The cleavage planes and fracture surfaces improve the photocatalytic activity of natural sphalerite by providing more active sites than perfect faces. Both the negative charge defects from the non-isoelectronic substitutions and surface elements with variable chemical valence suppressed the recombination of electron-hole pairs by their possible role of capturing photogenerated holes.

Preparation of Nitrogen-doped TiO2 Nanoparticle Catalyst and Its Catalytic Activity under Visible Light

N-doped TiO2 nanoparticle photocatalysts were prepared through a sol-gel procedure using NH4C1 as the nitrogen source and followed by calcination at certain temperature. Systematic studies for the preparation parameters and their impact on the structure and photocatalytic activity under ultraviolet （UV） and visible light irra-diation were carried out. Multiple techniques （XRD, TEM, DRIF, DSC, and XPS） were commanded to characterize the crystal structures and chemical binding of N-doped TiO2. Its photocatalytic activity was examined by the deg- radation of organic compounds. The catalytic activity of the prepared N-doped TiO2 nanoparticles under visible light （λ〉400nm） irradiation is evidenced by the decomposition of 4-chlorophenol, showing that nitrogen atoms in the N-doped TiO2 nanoparticle catalyst are responsible for the visible light catalytic activity. The N-doped TiO2 nanoparticle catalyst prepared with this modified route exhibits higher catalytic activity under UV irradiation in contrast to TiO2 without N-doping. It is suggested that the doped nitrogen here is located at the interstitial site of TiO2 lattice.

Photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine B under visible light with Nd-doped titanium dioxide films

Microporous titanium dioxide films were prepared by the sol-gel methods on glass substrates, using tetrabutyl titanate as source material. In order to absorb the visible light and increase the photocatalytic activities, different concentrations of neodymium ions (Nd/Ti molar ratio was 0.5%, 0.7%, 0.9%, and 1.1% respectively) were added into the sol. X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectros-copy (XPS), and atom force microscopy (AFM) were applied to characterize the modified films. A kind of typical textile industry pollutant (Rhodamine B) was used to evaluate the photocatalytic activities of the films under visible light. The results showed that the activities of the films were improved by doping Nd ions into the sol.

N-doped NaTaO3 synthesized from a hydrothermal method for photocatalytic water splitting under visible light irradiation

NaTaONcatalysts were synthesized by a hydrothermal（H） and a solid-state（S） methods in this study.The H-and S-NaTaONsamples were characterized by X-ray diffraction（XRD）, scanning electron microscopy（SEM）, transmission electron microscopy（TEM）, UV–visible（UV–vis） diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, and photoluminescence（PL） spectroscopy. The XRD patterns of the H-and S-samples showed peaks indexed to the pure phase of perovskite NaTaOand minor peaks assignable to TaNat various synthesis temperatures. Substitution of oxygen by nitrogen ions causes the light absorption of the H-and S-NaTaONsamples to be extended to the 600–650 nm region, thus making the samples visible-light active. The NaTaONsamples exhibited photocatalytic activity for Hand Oevolution from aqueous methanol and silver nitrate solutions under visible-light irradiation. The UV–vis and PL spectra of the Hand S-catalysts revealed the presence of cationic vacancies and reduced metallic species, which acted as recombination centers. These results demonstrated that the preparation method plays a critical role in the formation of defect states, thereby governing the photocatalytic activity of the NaTaONcatalysts.

Detection of intermediates in the TiO_2-assisted photodegradation of Rhodamine B under visible light irradiation

The photocatalytic degradation of dye Rhodamine B （RhB） in the presence of TiO2 nanostdpe or P25 under visible light irradiation was investigated. The degradation intermediates were identified using Infrared spectra （IR spectra）, ^1H nuclear magnetic resonance （^1HNMR） spectra, and gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy （GC-MS）. The IR and the ^1HNMR results showed that the large conjugated chromophore structure of RhB was efficiently destroyed under visible light irradiation in both the photocatalytic systems （TiO2 nanostfipe or P25 and Rhodamine B systems）. GC-MS results showed that the main identified intermediates were ethanediotic acid, 1,2-benzenedicarboxylic acid, 4-hydroxy benzoic acid and benzoic acid, which were almost the same in the TiO2 nanostdpes and P25 systems. This work provides a good insight into the reaction pathway（s） for the TiO2-assisted photocatalytic degradation of dye pollutants under visible light irradiation.