New insight into the enhanced photocatalytic activity of N-, C- and S-doped ZnO photocatalysts

A Review on the Fabrication of Hierarchical ZnO Nanostructures for Photocatalysis Application

“…Thus, the fabrication of hierarchical ZnO-based heterostructures is a promising strategy to enhance both photocatalytic degradation and H 2 generation. absorption of light in both visible and ultraviolet regions due to their smaller band gaps [130]. Especially, Liu et al [90] reported hierarchical flower-like C-doped ZnO superstructures (ZnO flowers) assembled from porous nanosheets, which showed better photocatalytic decomposition of the RhB dye in aqueous solutions than ZnO due to the enhanced light absorption over a wide range of wavelengths.…”

“…Moreover, the rapid recombination of photogenerated electron-hole pairs in ZnO often leads to decreased photocatalytic activity [129]. Therefore, various elements, such as N and C, have been doped into the wide-band-gap ZnO hierarchical structures to enhance the solar energy utilization [130]. For example, N-and C-doped ZnO hierarchical photocatalysts have been found to exhibit better Noble metals are also promised to be combined with ZnO hierarchical structures to achieve photocatalytic functionality improvements due to noble metals being able to act as electron-scavenging centers to allow for effective electron-hole pair separation [109,110].…”

“…Therefore, various elements, such as N and C, have been doped into the wide-band-gap ZnO hierarchical structures to enhance the solar energy utilization [130]. For example, N-and C-doped ZnO hierarchical photocatalysts have been found to exhibit better absorption of light in both visible and ultraviolet regions due to their smaller band gaps [130].…”

Photocatalytic Water Oxidation on ZnO: A Review

“…Thus, band gap modification can be achieved via creation of oxygen vacancies, non-metal doping, co-doping of non-metals and transition metal doping [73]. Non-metal doping, e.g., nitrogen, carbon or sulfur into ZnO, has been extensively studied with a view to narrowing the bandgap [74]. The narrowing of the band gap using non-metal dopants was previously attributed to the mixing of O 2p states with the dopant's 2p states, thereby forming occupied states with higher energy in the valence band [75].…”

Photocatalytic Activity of Synthetic N‐doped TiO2/Reduced Graphene Oxide Crystalline Composites

“…Particularly, a large quantity of organic dyes can be degraded by semiconductor photocatalysts with illumination, such as TiO 2 [6][7][8][9][10], ZnO [11], CdS [12], and ZrO 2 [13]. Among these semiconductor photocatalysts, TiO 2 -based materials are the most promising candidates to decontaminate water for their high efficiency, stability, and low cost.…”