Enhanced Photocatalytic Performance through Magnetic Field Boosting Carrier Transport

Abstract

The promotion of magnetic field on catalytic performance has attracted extensive attention for a long time, and substantial improvements have been achieved in some catalysis fields. However, because the Zeeman energy is several orders of magnitude weaker, magnetic field seems unable to alter the band structure and has a negligible effect on semiconductor photocatalytic performance, which makes this task a great challenge. On the other hand, the spin-related behavior usually plays an important role in determining catalytic performance. For example, in some molecular catalysis, such as photosystem II, ferromagnetic alignment of the active material results in spin-oriented electrons, which are selected and accumulated at the interface, leading to great promotion of the oxygen evolution reaction activity. Here, we propose a magnetoresistance-related strategy to boost the carrier transfer efficiency and apply it in α-FeO/reduced graphene oxide hybrid nanostructures (α-FeO/rGO) to improve the photocatalytic performance under magnetic field. We show that both the degradation rate constant and photocurrent density of α-FeO/rGO can be dramatically enhanced with the application of magnetic field, indicating the promotion of the photocatalytic performance.

Manipulating spin polarization of titanium dioxide for efficient photocatalysis

“…During the electron transfer, the original spin direction of electrons will lose (and change to spin-up state) due to spin-orbital coupling, hyperfine interaction, etc 43 . Consequently, the recombination will be inhibited because of the lack of spin-up holes under the environment of high spatial spin polarization, which is similar to the giant magnetoresistance effect 44,45 at V Ti = 6.4%, with a highest spin polarization (Fig. 3), can inhibit the recombination of photoinduced carriers to the greatest extent.…”

Facile Solvothermal Synthesis of Hollow BiOBr Submicrospheres with Enhanced Visible-Light-Responsive Photocatalytic Performance

“…In recent years, semiconductor photocatalysis has gradually been recognized as a promising approach to effectively solve the ever-increasing energy shortage and environmental pollution [1,2]. Among various photocatalytic materials, BiOBr is of particular interest thanks to its stability, suitable bang gap, visible-light-response performance, and desirable photocatalytic activities [3][4][5].…”

Manipulated Optical Absorption and Accompanied Photocurrent Using Magnetic Field in Charger Transfer Engineered C/ZnO Nanowires

“…[ 14,15 ] For dynamic modification, studies have focused on the noncontact approach, in which a magnetic field is used as an external driving force. Studies have used the Lorentz force to boost carrier transport [ 16,17 ] and optimized rapid recombination [ 18 ] to enhance the PC response. Typically, the magnetic‐field‐controlled optical phenomena in nano‐heterostructures consisting of magnetic‐components arises from the interactions between magnetic moment of an electron and applied magnetic field.…”