Photocatalysis – The Heterogeneous Catalysis Perspective

Band-structure tunability via the modulation of excitons in semiconductor nanostructures: manifestation in photocatalytic fuel generation

“…To date, the following fundamental guidelines have been established: (i) the excitons trapped in the bulk cannot participate in the catalytic process, and thus surface defects are typically desirable than bulk defects when they are envisioned to act as trap states; 198,199 (ii) the bound electron-hole pairs at the defects site must possess enough oxidation or reduction potential to facilitate the target reaction; therefore, shallow traps are typically preferred over deep traps, and (iii) to generate enough oxidation or reduction potential to enable the intended reaction to occur, catalytic active sites usually require defects. 205 3.3.1.1 Oxygen vacancies. Oxygen vacancies (OVs) are the most common anion vacancies in transition-metal oxides due to their low formation energy.…”

Titania nanorods array homojunction with sub-stoichiometric TiO2 for enhanced methylene blue photodegradation

“…As predicted by G. Ciamician in his visionary article in 1912 [7], photochemistry is now becoming a popular topic because it is considered a sustainable way to perform chemical reactions and degrade pollutants exploiting solar energy. Combining this strategy with the ability of semiconductor materials to interact with a suitable wavelength, electron-hole pairs able to degrade molecules via a radical mechanism are produced [8,9]. Many semiconductors have been investigated and tested as promising photocatalysts but, among them, titania (TiO 2 ) is still the most widely used [10].…”