Dual functional WO/BiVO heterostructures for efficient photoelectrochemical water splitting and glycerol degradation.

Dual functional heterojunctions of tungsten oxide and bismuth vanadate (WO/BiVO) photoanodes are developed and their applications in photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting and mineralization of glycerol are demonstrated. The thin-film WO/BiVO photoelectrode was fabricated by a facile hydrothermal method. The morphology, chemical composition, crystalline structure, chemical state, and optical absorption properties of the WO/BiVO photoelectrodes were characterized systematically.

Surface plasmon-driven photoelectrochemical water splitting of a Ag/TiO nanoplate photoanode.

A silver/titanium dioxide nanoplate (Ag/TiO NP) photoelectrode was designed and fabricated from vertically aligned TiO nanoplates (NP) decorated with silver nanoparticles (NPs) through a simple hydrothermal synthesis and electrodeposition route. The electrodeposition times of Ag NPs on the TiO NP were crucial for surface plasmon-driven photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting performance. The Ag/TiO NP at the optimal deposition time of 5 min with a Ag element content of 0.

Efficient and Rapid Photocatalytic Degradation of Methyl Orange Dye Using Al/ZnO Nanoparticles.

ZnO and Aluminum doped ZnO nanoparticles (Al/ZnO NPs) were successfully synthesized by the sol-gel method. Together with the effect of calcination temperatures (200, 300 and 400 °C) and Al dosage (1%, 3%, 5% and 10%) on structural, morphological and optical properties of Al/ZnO NPs, their photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange (MO) dye was investigated. The calcination temperatures at 200, 300 and 400 °C in forming structure of ZnO NPs led to spherical nanoparticle, nanorod and nanoflake structures with a well-crystalline hexagonal wurtzite, respectively.

Bifunctional photoelectrochemical process for humic acid degradation and hydrogen production using multi-layered p-type CuO photoelectrodes with plasmonic Au@TiO.

Bifunctional photoelectrochemical (PEC) process for simultaneous hydrogen production and mineralisation of humic acid in water using TiO-1 wt% Au@TiO/AlO/CuO multi-layered p-type photoelectrodes is demonstrated. The newly designed bifunctional PEC system leads to a high degradation efficiency of dissolved humic compounds, the target pollutant, by up to 87% during 2 h reaction time. Simultaneously, humic acid is also served as a sacrificial electron donor in the proposed system, contributing to a high photocurrent density of the multi-layered p-type CuO photoelectrodes up to -6.

Boron-doped graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets for enhanced visible light photocatalytic water splitting.

A new type of boron-doped graphitic carbon nitride (B-g-CN) nanosheets was prepared by a benign one-pot thermal polycondensation process. Systematic studies revealed that a B-doping amount of 1 at% into g-CN (1at%B-g-CN) showed the best photocatalytic H evolution activity of 1880 μmol h g under visible light irradiation (>400 nm), which is more than 12 times that of the pristine g-CN bulk. Detailed characterizations revealed that the high photocatalytic performance could be attributed to the combination of band structure engineering and morphological control.

Stable Hematite Nanosheet Photoanodes for Enhanced Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting.

A vertically grown hematite nanosheet film modified with Ag nanoparticles (NPs) and Co-Pi cocatalyst exhibits a remarkably high photocurrent density of 4.68 mA cm(-2) at 1.23 V versus RHE.