Research and Application Progress of Inverse Opal Photonic Crystals in Photocatalysis

Abstract

In order to solve the problem of low photocatalytic efficiency in photocatalytic products, researchers proposed a method to use inverse opal photonic crystal structure in photocatalytic materials. This is due to a large specific surface area and a variety of optical properties of the inverse opal photonic crystal, which are great advantages in photocatalytic performance. In this paper, the photocatalytic principle and preparation methods of three-dimensional inverse opal photonic crystals are introduced, including the preparation of basic inverse opal photonic crystals and the photocatalytic modification of inverse opal photonic crystals, and then the application progresses of inverse opal photonic crystal photocatalyst in sewage purification, production of clean energy and waste gas treatment are introduced.

Construction of Inverse–Opal ZnIn2S4 with Well–Defined 3D Porous Structure for Enhancing Photocatalytic H2 Production

“…As a result, it can be observed that IO-ZIS exhibits four types of pores with average sizes of 120, 160, 200 and 220 nm, which interconnect to form the intended inverse opal structure. However, many cracks were observed in IO-ZIS samples at lower magnification, which may be due to the condensation and decomposition of the precursor, as well as the interaction between the precursor and the PS sphere during the infiltration and calcination process, which may lead to the collapse of the template [40]. Its EDX energy spectrum is depicted in Figure 1m, where it can be observed that Zn, In and S are uniformly distributed in the structure.…”