2.3. Evaluation of Photocatalytic Water Splitting 6507 2.3.1. Photocatalytic Activity 6507 2.3.2. Photocatalytic Stability 6507 3. UV-Active Photocatalysts for Water Splitting 6507 3.1. d0 Metal Oxide Photocatalyts 6507 3.1.1. Ti-, Zr-Based Oxides 6507 3.1.2. Nb-, Ta-Based Oxides 6514 3.1.3. W-, Mo-Based Oxides 6517 3.1.4. Other d0 Metal Oxides 6518 3.2. d10 Metal Oxide Photocatalyts 6518 3.3. f0 Metal Oxide Photocatalysts 6518 3.4. Nonoxide Photocatalysts 6518 4. Approaches to Modifying the Electronic Band Structure for Visible-Light Harvesting 6519

Semiconductor-based Photocatalytic Hydrogen Generation

Photoinduced reactivity of titanium dioxide

Recent years have seen a renewed interest in the harvesting and conversion of solar energy. Among various technologies, the direct conversion of solar to chemical energy using photocatalysts has received significant attention. Although heterogeneous photocatalysts are almost exclusively semiconductors, it has been demonstrated recently that plasmonic nanostructures of noble metals (mainly silver and gold) also show significant promise. Here we review recent progress in using plasmonic metallic nanostructures in the field of photocatalysis. We focus on plasmon-enhanced water splitting on composite photocatalysts containing semiconductor and plasmonic-metal building blocks, and recently reported plasmon-mediated photocatalytic reactions on plasmonic nanostructures of noble metals. We also discuss the areas where major advancements are needed to move the field of plasmon-mediated photocatalysis forward.

Plasmonic-metal nanostructures for efficient conversion of solar to chemical energy

Nano-sized TiO 2 photocatalytic water-splitting technology has great potential for low-cost, environmentally friendly solar-hydrogen production to support the future hydrogen economy. Presently, the solar-to-hydrogen energy conversion efficiency is too low for the technology to be economically sound. The main barriers are the rapid recombination of photo-generated electron/hole pairs as well as backward reaction and the poor activation of TiO 2 by visible light. In response to these deficiencies, many investigators have been conducting research with an emphasis on effective remediation methods. Some investigators studied the effects of addition of sacrificial reagents and carbonate salts to prohibit rapid recombination of electron/hole pairs and backward reactions. Other research focused on the enhancement of photocatalysis by modification of TiO 2 by means of metal loading, metal ion doping, dye sensitization, composite semiconductor, anion doping and metal ion-implantation. This paper aims to review the up-to-date development of the above-mentioned technologies applied to TiO 2 photocatalytic hydrogen production. Based on the studies reported in the literature, metal ion-implantation and dye sensitization are very effective methods to extend the activating spectrum to the visible range. Therefore, they play an important role in the development of efficient photocatalytic hydrogen production.

A review and recent developments in photocatalytic water-splitting using TiO2 for hydrogen production

Fujishima and Honda (1972) demonstrated the potential of titanium dioxide (TiO2) semiconductor materials to split water into hydrogen and oxygen in a photo-electrochemical cell. Their work triggered the development of semiconductor photocatalysis for a wide range of environmental and energy applications. One of the most significant scientific and commercial advances to date has been the development of visible light active (VLA) TiO2 photocatalytic materials. In this review, a background on TiO2 structure, properties and electronic properties in photocatalysis is presented. The development of different strategies to modify TiO2 for the utilization of visible light, including non metal and/or metal doping, dye sensitization and coupling semiconductors are discussed. Emphasis is given to the origin of visible light absorption and the reactive oxygen species generated, deduced by physicochemical and photoelectrochemical methods. Various applications of VLA TiO2, in terms of environmental remediation and in particular water treatment, disinfection and air purification, are illustrated. Comprehensive studies on the photocatalytic degradation of contaminants of emerging concern, including endocrine disrupting compounds, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, cyanotoxins and volatile organic compounds, with VLA TiO2 are discussed and compared to conventional UV-activated TiO2 nanomaterials. Recent advances in bacterial disinfection using VLA TiO2 are also reviewed. Issues concerning test protocols for real visible light activity and photocatalytic efficiencies with different light sources have been highlighted.

/pdf/a-review-on-the-visible-light-active-titanium-dioxide-2qg81s4yao.pdf

A review on the visible light active titanium dioxide photocatalysts for environmental applications

The limited natural abundance and high cost of Pt has been a major barrier in its applications for hydrogen or methanol fuel cells. In this work, based on the pyrolyzed corrin structure of vitamin B12 (py-B12/C), it is reported to produce superior catalytic activity in the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) with an electron transfer number of 3.90, which is very close to the ideal case of 4. The H2–O2fuel cell using py-B12/C provides a maximum power density of 370 mW cm−2 and a current density of 0.720 A cm−2 at 0.5 V at 70 °C. Calculations based on density functional theory suggests that the corrin complex with a low-symmetric structure offers a much preferable path for the ORR, which is not applicable to the porphyrin with a high-symmetric structure. The long-term stability and high ORR activity of py-B12/C make it a viable candidate as a Pt-substitute in the ORR.

https://ir.nctu.edu.tw:443/bitstream/11536/15283/1/000299046100021.pdf

Vitalizing fuel cells with vitamins: pyrolyzed vitamin B12 as a non-precious catalyst for enhanced oxygen reduction reaction of polymer electrolyte fuel cells

On the impact of Cu dispersion on CO2 photoreduction over Cu/TiO2

Bimetallic Rh–Ni/BN catalyst for methane reforming with CO2

The effect localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of Au nanoparticles was studied on the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 film. We used the thermal hydrolysis method to prepare 300 nm TiO2 film and the sodium citrate reduced method to synthesize gold nanoparticles. The photocatalytic activities of Au/TiO2, Au@SiO2/TiO2, and TiO2 films were evaluated by the degree of MB photodegradation under similar conditions with simultaneous UV (365 nm) and visible-light (400 nm Au/TiO2 > TiO2. Although the SiO2 shell prevented the electron trap effect, the MB photodegradation efficiency of Au@SiO2/TiO2 was superior to that of Au/TiO2 because its LSPR was much higher. To validate the experimental results, the electric field intensity around the gold nanoparticles was simulated by the finite element method (FEM). In the presence of gold nanoparticles, the LSPR effect increased the surrounding intensity of e...

Jeffrey C.S. Wu

Papers

Vitalizing fuel cells with vitamins: pyrolyzed vitamin B12 as a non-precious catalyst for enhanced oxygen reduction reaction of polymer electrolyte fuel cells

On the impact of Cu dispersion on CO2 photoreduction over Cu/TiO2

Bimetallic Rh–Ni/BN catalyst for methane reforming with CO2

Improved Photocatalytic Activity of Shell-Isolated Plasmonic Photocatalyst Au@SiO2/TiO2 by Promoted LSPR

Visible-light response Cr-doped TiO2−XNX photocatalysts