Dual-pathway charge transfer mechanism of anatase/rutile TiO-AgPO hollow photocatalyst promotes efficient degradation of pesticides.

Exploring high-performance photocatalysts still remains a big challenge due to poor charge separation efficiency. Herein, we prepare a novel anatase/rutile TiO-AgPO hollow photocatalyst (A/R-TiO-AgPO) for addressing this challenge. Microstructural characterization and photoelectric measurements confirm that the synergy of hollow structure and dual-heterojunction can provide abundant active sites and boost efficient charge separation through dual-pathway charge transfer mechanism.

Activated carbon modified titanium dioxide/bismuth trioxide adsorbent: One-pot synthesis, high removal efficiency of organic pollutants, and good recyclability.

Considerable endeavors have focused on tightly combining adsorption with photocatalysis in designing composite materials for environmental pollution treatment. Recent advances in coupling titanium dioxide/bismuth trioxide (TiO/BiO) with activated carbon (AC) show significantly enhanced photocatalytic performance but face critical limitations including low adsorption capacity and multi-step synthesis. In this work, we introduce a one-pot synthesis of activated carbon modified TiO/BiO composite materials (TiO/BiO/AC).

Hierarchically-structured SiO-Ag@TiO hollow spheres with excellent photocatalytic activity and recyclability.

A new protocol for constructing sandwich-like SiO-Ag@TiO hollow spheres (SAT) is introduced, in which SiO acts as an efficient support for the Ag nanoparticles (Ag NPs) immobilization, while TiO maintains its hierarchical structure and prevents the aggregation of Ag NPs during the photocatalytic reaction. As a photocatalytic agent, the inner and outer surfaces of TiO can be fully occupied by pollutants molecules because of its unique structure, which faster boosts the photo-generated electrons to transfer the substrates, leading to an enhanced photocatalytic performance. Compared with Ag NPs deposited on the surface of SiO@TiO (STA), the as-synthesized SAT exhibits a markedly enhanced visible-light and UV light activity than STA for degrading tetracycline and traditional dyes.

High photocatalytic activity of hierarchical SiO@C-doped TiO hollow spheres in UV and visible light towards degradation of rhodamine B.

Ongoing research activities are targeted to explore high photocatalytic activity of TiO-based photocatalysts for the degradation of environmental contaminants under UV and visible light irradiation. In this work, we devise a facile, cost-effective technique to in situ synthesize hierarchical SiO@C-doped TiO (SCT) hollow spheres for the first time. This strategy mainly contains the preparation of monodisperse cationic polystyrene spheres (CPS), sequential deposition of inner SiO, the preparation of the sandwich-like CPS@SiO@CPS particles, and formation of outer TiO.

Stimuli-responsive controlled release and molecular transport from hierarchical hollow silica/polyelectrolyte multilayer formulations.

The smart designing of polymer hybrid carriers with a selective property will play a pivotal role in improving patient care and simplifying treatment regimes in the clinic. The controlled drug release of biomolecules from thin film coatings provides a simple pathway to offer complex localized in vivo dosing. In this investigation, we showed that it is possible to take advantage of the structure of hierarchically structured hollow silica/polymer hybrid system to control drug release.

A self-switchable Ag nanoreactor exhibiting outstanding catalytic properties.

A highly efficient nanoreactor that contains silver nanoparticles in hollow silica spheres and an interpolymer network as a gate-keeper has been developed following a facile procedure. The fast "signal-triggered" switch of the smart network results in a high reactivity and a high response rate, yielding improved potential for many practical applications.