Visible light sensitization of platinized TiO₂ photocatalyst by surface‐coated polymers derivatized with ruthenium tris(bipyridyl)

Controlling Dye (Merocyanine-540) Aggregation on Nanostructured TiO2 Films. An Organized Assembly Approach for Enhancing the Efficiency of Photosensitization

“…Electroactive polymers are considered to be important in developing solid-state photoelectrochemical and photocatalytic devices. A few attempts have already been made in this regard with limited success (see, for example, − ). Electrochemically active polymers such as I 3 - /I - -doped PVP can also provide an alternate means of coupling dye-modified semiconductor films with polymers for developing photoelectrochemical cells.…”

Nano‐photocatalytic Materials: Possibilities and Challenges

“…In principle, TiO 2 can utilize no more than 5% of the total solar energy impinging on the surface of the earth due to its wide bandgap (3–3.2 eV). During the past decade, much effort has been devoted to modifying TiO 2 , including energy band modulation by doping with elements such as N, C, and S,13, 14 the construction of hetero‐junctions by combining TiO 2 with metals such as Pt or Pd, or other semiconductors such as NiO, RuO 2 , WO 3 or CdS,15–17 and the addition of quantum dots or dyes on the TiO 2 surface for better light sensitization 18–21. Simultaneously, the use of conventional semiconductors such as SrTiO 3 22, 23 and WO 3 24 in photocatalysis has been investigated in the search for possible alternatives to TiO 2 .…”

Titania and Pt/titania aerogels as superior mesoporous structures for photocatalytic water splitting

“…2 To improve the photocatalytic efficiency of the water splitting process for hydrogen generation, there have been a great deal of research efforts devoted to the development of the semiconductor photocatalyst. The main efforts have been placed on the engineering of the electronic band structure of the photocatalyst so that the photocatalysts become visible light responsive instead of only UV-light responsive, [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] and enhancement of electron-hole separations for more efficient hydrogen production through incorporation of co-catalysts [12][13][14][15][16] and addition of sacrificial reagents. [17][18][19] Here, the shift from the UV-responsiveness to visible light responsiveness greatly improves light utilization and is commonly achieved by developing low bandgap semiconductors, [3][4][5] doping high bandgap semiconductors, [6][7][8] and coupling with visible light responsive dyes.…”

“…[17][18][19] Here, the shift from the UV-responsiveness to visible light responsiveness greatly improves light utilization and is commonly achieved by developing low bandgap semiconductors, [3][4][5] doping high bandgap semiconductors, [6][7][8] and coupling with visible light responsive dyes. [9][10][11] As for co-catalysts, noble metals such as Pt are excellent candidates whose Fermi-energy levels are normally more positive than the conduction band of the photocatalyst to attract and trap the photon-excited electrons for hydrogen generation. Sacrificial reagents for hydrogen production are electron donors that get oxidized by the photon-induced holes to suppress the possible electron-hole recombination.…”