Creatively constructing Z-scheme composites is a promising and common strategy for designing effective photocatalyst systems. Herein, we synthesized Z-scheme Fe2O3@Ag-ZnO@C heterostructures from the Fe-MOFs and applied it to photodegradation of tetracycline and methylene blue pollutants in wastewater. The optimized sample exhibits a remarkable performance as well as stability under visible light irradiation. The calculating and experimental results demonstrate that the Fe2O3@ZnO nanointerface and carbon sheath together boost the transfer efficiency of photogenerated carriers and absorption ability, thereby improving the photocatalytic activity. Furthermore, detailed mechanism investigation reveals the pivotal role of reactive oxygen species (•OH and •O2-) generated, resulting in remarkable performance. In addition, cell biology experiments reveal that the wastewater after photocatalytic treatment has good biological compatibility, which is important for applications. This work provides valuable information for constructing high-performance Z-scheme photocatalysts from MOFs for environmental treatment.

Constructing Fe-MOF-Derived Z-Scheme Photocatalysts with Enhanced Charge Transport: Nanointerface and Carbon Sheath Synergistic Effect

Photoelectrochemical water splitting based on nanostructured bismuth vanadate (BiVO4) can be a promising strategy to produce low-cost and green H2 to replace fossil fuels and realize carbon neutrality. Herein, a simple chemical way to realize in situ carbon doping into BiVO4 crystalline structure is designed and obtained carbon-doped BiVO4, namely C-BiVO4, can improve the electronic conductivity of BiVO4. In addition, the introduction of the synthesized carbon quantum dots (CQDs) as a co-catalyst, immobilizes CQDs onto the C-BiVO4 nanosheet and acquires the optimized C-BiVO4/CQDs heterogeneous structure, which not only boosts light absorption, but also enhances the separation and transfer of the photo-generated charges. Stemming from the dual carbon actions, the as-prepared C-BiVO4/CQDs photoanode exhibits an excellent photocurrent density of 4.83 mA cm−2 at 1.23 V versus the RHE without the use of any hole scavengers. To assure the practical application of the sensitive photocatalyst, a polyaniline layer is electroplated onto the C-BiVO4/CQDs catalyst as a conducting, electroactive, and protective layer to sustain a remarkable long-term photocurrent density of 2.75 mA cm−2 for 9 hours. This work suggests that the proposed low-cost, environmentally friendly dual carbon actions can modify photocatalyst and achieve green production of H2. 

Charge Relays via Dual Carbon‐Actions on Nanostructured BiVO
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 for High Performance Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting

Enhanced BiVO4 Photoanode Photoelectrochemical Performance via Borate Treatment and a NiFeOx Cocatalyst

Self-cleaning photocatalytic MXene composite membrane for synergistically enhanced water treatment: Oil/water separation and dyes removal

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting is considered as a promising technology for producing clean energy such as hydrogen. The urgent challenge in this field is how to prepare highly efficient electrode materials. The introduction of oxygen vacancies (OVs) into catalytic materials has been confirmed to be an effective strategy toward enhancing the performance of PEC water splitting by both theoretical calculations and experiment results. Herein, the existing strategies for introducing OVs into nanomaterials are discussed in this minireview. In addition, the effect of OVs on PEC water splitting to improve the light absorption efficiency, charges transfer efficiency, and charge injection efficiency was summarized. Finally, we propose several challenges that need to be addressed in the field of PEC water splitting in the future. This minireview could offer some important contributions to the future synthesis of nanomaterials with rich OVs for PEC application. 

Xinyu Lu

Papers

Amorphous type FeOOH modified defective BiVO4 photoanodes for photoelectrochemical water oxidation

Bi3TaO7/Ti3C2 heterojunctions for enhanced photocatalytic removal of water-borne contaminants.

Enhanced BiVO4 Photoanode Photoelectrochemical Performance via Borate Treatment and a NiFeOx Cocatalyst

Synthesis visible photocatalyst carbon/BiOI and its photocatalytic degradation activity