Na/Mo co-doped PbTiO for photocatalytic water oxidation and Z-scheme overall water splitting under visible light.

Herein, we demonstrate a sodium/molybdenum (Na/Mo) co-doped ferroelectric PbTiO for efficient photocatalysis under visible light. Doped with a high concentration of Mo, quasi-continuous new energy levels are successfully introduced below the conduction band minimum of PbTiO, giving rise to a band-to-band redshift of the absorption edge. The valence state difference of Mo and Ti in the doped PbTiO is compensated by the Na dopant, thus effectively suppressing the formation of the recombination centres caused by Mo.

Liquid metal-embraced photoactive films for artificial photosynthesis.

The practical applications of solar-driven water splitting pivot on significant advances that enable scalable production of robust photoactive films. Here, we propose a proof-of-concept for fabricating robust photoactive films by a particle-implanting technique (PiP) which embeds semiconductor photoabsorbers in the liquid metal. The strong semiconductor/metal interaction enables resulting films efficient collection of photogenerated charges and superior photoactivity.

Enhanced oxidation of organic pollutants by regulating the interior reaction region of reactive electrochemical membranes.

Reactive electrochemical membrane (REM) emerges as an attractive strategy for the elimination of refractory organic pollutants that exist in wastewater. However, the limited reaction sites in traditional REMs greatly hinder its practical application. Herein, a feed-through coating methodology was developed to realize the uniform loading of SnO-Sb catalysts on the interior surface of a REM.

Gradient tungsten-doped BiTiNbO ferroelectric photocatalysts with additional built-in electric field for efficient overall water splitting.

BiTiNbO, a layered ferroelectric photocatalyst, exhibits great potential for overall water splitting through efficient intralayer separation of photogenerated carriers motivated by a depolarization field along the in-plane a-axis. However, the poor interlayer transport of carriers along the out-of-plane c-axis, caused by the significant potential barrier between layers, leads to a high probability of carrier recombination and consequently results in low photocatalytic activity. Here, we have developed an efficient photocatalyst consisting of BiTiNbO nanosheets with a gradient tungsten (W) doping along the c-axis.

Unveiling the spatially confined oxidation processes in reactive electrochemical membranes.

Electrocatalytic oxidation offers opportunities for sustainable environmental remediation, but it is often hampered by the slow mass transfer and short lives of electro-generated radicals. Here, we achieve a four times higher kinetic constant (18.9 min) for the oxidation of 4-chlorophenol on the reactive electrochemical membrane by reducing the pore size from 105 to 7 μm, with the predominate mechanism shifting from hydroxyl radical oxidation to direct electron transfer.

Selective Exposure of Robust Perovskite Layer of Aurivillius-Type Compounds for Stable Photocatalytic Overall Water Splitting.

Aurivillius-type compounds ((Bi O ) (A B O ) ) with alternately stacked layers of bismuth oxide (Bi O ) and perovskite (A B O ) are promising photocatalysts for overall water splitting due to their suitable band structures and adjustable layered characteristics. However, the self-reduction of Bi at the top (Bi O ) layers induced by photogenerated electrons during photocatalytic processes causes inactivation of the compounds as photocatalysts. Here, using Bi TiNbO as a model photocatalyst, its surface termination is modulated by acid etching, which well suppresses the self-corrosion phenomenon.

Perovskite Oxynitride Solid Solutions of LaTaON-CaTaON with Greatly Enhanced Photogenerated Charge Separation for Solar-Driven Overall Water Splitting.

The search for solar-driven photocatalysts for overall water splitting has been actively pursued. Although metal oxynitrides with metal d/d-closed shell configuration are very promising candidates in terms of their visible light absorption, they usually suffer from serious photo-generated charge recombination and thus, little photoactivity. Here, by forming their solid solutions of LaTaON and CaTaON, which are traditionally considered to be inorganic yellow-red pigments but have poor photocatalytic activity, a class of promising solar-driven photocatalysts La Ca TaON (0 ≤ , ≤ 1) are explored.

An integrated thermoelectric-assisted photoelectrochemical system to boost water splitting.

Common solar-driven photoelectrochemical (PEC) cells for water splitting were designed by using semiconducting photoactive materials as working photoelectrodes to capture sunlight. Due to the thermodynamic requirement of 1.23 eV and kinetic energy loss of about 0.

Unique physicochemical properties of two-dimensional light absorbers facilitating photocatalysis.

The emergence of two-dimensional (2D) materials with a large lateral size and extremely small thickness has significantly changed the development of many research areas by producing a variety of unusual physicochemical properties. Semiconductor photocatalysis is intrinsically controlled by multiple light-matter, light absorber-cocatalyst and molecular/ionic-matter interactions that can be highly dependent on the geometric features of the light absorber. In this review, we focus on the unique structures and unusual physicochemical properties of 2D semiconducting light absorbers and their roles in facilitating photocatalysis.

Selective Breaking of Hydrogen Bonds of Layered Carbon Nitride for Visible Light Photocatalysis.

Selective breaking of the hydrogen bonds of graphitic carbon nitride can introduce favorable features, including increased band tails close to the band edges and the creation of abundant pores. These features can simultaneously improve the three basic processes of photocatalysis. As a consequence, the photocatalytic hydrogen-generation activity of carbon nitride under visible light is drastically increased by tens of times.

An Amorphous Carbon Nitride Photocatalyst with Greatly Extended Visible-Light-Responsive Range for Photocatalytic Hydrogen Generation.

Amorphous carbon nitride (ACN) with a bandgap of 1.90 eV shows an order of magnitude higher photocatalytic activity in hydrogen evolution under visible light than partially crystalline graphitic carbon nitride with a bandgap of 2.82 eV.