A surface reconstruction route for increasingly improved photocatalytic HO production using SrBiTaOCl.

Photocatalytic hydrogen peroxide (HO) generation is attractive for the chemical industry and energy production. However, photocatalysts generally deteriorate significantly during use to limit their application. Here we present highly active SrBiTaOCl single-crystal nanoplates for conversion of O to HO using ambient air with a production rate of ∼3 mmol h g (maximum 17.

Waste Polyethylene-Derived Carbon Dots: Administration of Metal-Free Oxidizing Agents for Tunable Properties and Photocatalytic Hyperactivity.

The possibility of converting waste plastics into carbon dots (CDs) with 100% efficiencies using KMnO has emerged as a significant discovery in mitigating plastic pollution and upcycling. However, the lack of tunability of their properties, viz. aerial O harvesting, light-induced autophagy, and photoactivity using air as a free oxidant, has remained a bottleneck.

Stimuli-Responsive Control over Self-Assembled Nanostructures in Sequence-Specific Functional Block Copolymers.

The precise sequence of a protein's primary structure is essential in determining its folding pathways. To emulate the complexity of these biomolecules, functional block copolymers consisting of segmented triblocks with distinct functionalities positioned in a sequence-specific manner are designed to control the polymer chain compaction. Triblock polymers and and random diblock copolymer consist of a hydrophilic poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) block and a hydrophobic block with coumarin () and ferrocene () moieties that are grafted in a sequence-specific or random manner onto the hydrophilic block.

Universal Piezo-Photocatalytic Wastewater Treatment on Realistic Pollutant Feedstocks by BiTaOCl: Origin of High Efficiency and Adjustable Synergy.

Clean water is a fundamental human right but millions struggle for it daily. Herein, we demonstrate a new piezo-photocatalyst with immense structural diversity for universal wastewater decontamination. Single-crystalline BiTaOCl nanoplates with exposed piezoelectric facets exhibit visible-light response, piezoelectric behavior with coercive voltages of ±5 V yielding 0.

BiTaOCl as a New Class of Layered Perovskite Oxyhalide Materials for Piezopotential Driven Efficient Seawater Splitting.

Piezocatalytic water splitting is an emerging approach to generate "green hydrogen" that can address several drawbacks of photocatalytic and electrocatalytic approaches. However, existing piezocatalysts are few and with minimal structural flexibility for engineering properties. Moreover, the scope of utilizing unprocessed water is yet unknown and may widely differ from competing techniques due to the constantly varying nature of surface potential.

Role of interfacial contact between 2D materials and preselected nanostructures in the degradation of toxic dyes: Multifunctional facets of graphene.

Designing intimate interfacial contact between nanostructures and two-dimensional (2D) materials is highly desirable to influence the movement of generated charge carriers. Nanostructured zinc oxide (ZnO) is a fascinating material with unique optical and electrical properties. 2D reduced graphene oxide (rGO) exhibits semiconductor behaviour with tunable catalytic activity and excellent biocompatibility.

Synthesis of BiTaO-BiTaOBr composites in ambient air and their high photocatalytic activity upon metal loading.

Herein, we show that composites of BiTaO-BiTaOX (X = Cl, Br), two important Bi- and Ta-based light-responsive phases, can be prepared by high temperature, ambient air treatment of the precursors including easily oxidizable BiOX that retain the halide phases in excess of 60% and exhibit high photocatalytic activity. Furthermore, when these phases were loaded with less than 1% noble metals (Pd, Pt, Ag), nearly complete separation of the photogenerated excitons was observed, leading to a significant enhancement in the photocatalytic activity.