Uniform mesoporous single-crystal TiO2 spheres with radial channels from driving orientation assembly can be used for energy storage.

C-doped ZnO with a large surface area was prepared via F127-assisted pyrolysis at 500 C and used for visible-light-responsive photocatalytic water purification. The band structure of the C-doped ZnO was investigated using valance band XPS and DFT simulation. The C-doped ZnO possessed enhanced absorption of UV and visible light, though it showed lower visible-light-responsive photocatalytic activity than ZnO because of significant recombination of photogenerated charge carriers arising from overloaded C-dopant and oxygen vacancies.

Cyanide is an extreme hazard and extensively found in the wastes of refinery, coke plant, and metal plating industries. A simple, fast, cost-effective, room-temperature wet chemical route, based on cyclohexylamine, for synthesizing zinc oxide nanoparticles in aqueous and enthanolic media was established and tested for the photodegradation of cyanide ions. Particles of polyhedra morphology were obtained for zinc oxide, prepared in ethanol (ZnOE), while spherical and some chunky particles were observed for zinc oxide, prepared in water (ZnOW). The morphology was crucial in enhancing the cyanide ion photocatalytic degradation efficiency of ZnOE by a factor of 1.5 in comparison to the efficiency of ZnOW at an equivalent concentration of 0.02 wt.% ZnO. Increasing the concentration wt.% of ZnOE from 0.01 to 0.09 led to an increase in the photocatalytic degradation efficiency from 85% to almost 100% after 180 min and a doubling of the first-order rate constant (k).

Well ordered, uniform 3D open macro/mesoporous TiO2 hollow microspheres with highly crystalline anatase thin shells have been successfully synthesized by a simple solvent evaporation-driven confined self-assembly method. The 3D open macro/mesoporous TiO2 hollow microspheres show high energy-conversion efficiency (up to 9.5%) and remarkable photocatalytic activity (with photodegradation of 100% for methylene blue in 12 min under UV light irradiation).

Adipic acid (AA) is one of the highest volume chemicals in world use with a wide range of commercial applications. This paper demonstrates the possibility of producing significant proportions of AA by the selective oxidation of cyclohexane (CH) in one step using various supported gold‐nanoparticle (AuNP) catalysts. The catalysts were characterized by ICP, BET, XRD, X‐ray photoelectron microscopy, and TEM. The catalytic activity tests were carried out in the liquid phase using autoclaves in the temperature range of 100–170 °C at 10 bar. A CH conversion of over 25 %, with 26% selectivity of AA and 70% selectivity of KA oil (cyclohexanone+cyclohexanol), was achieved over a nano‐gold/TiO2 (anatase) catalyst. The superior performance of this catalyst is attributed to the smaller size of AuNPs, which has an average particle size of 2 nm. Good correlation between activity and Au particle size could be achieved. Overall, the particle size of the AuNPs showed a strong influence on catalytic performance.