There is intense interest in graphene in fields such as physics, chemistry, and materials science, among others. Interest in graphene's exceptional physical properties, chemical tunability, and potential for applications has generated thousands of publications and an accelerating pace of research, making review of such research timely. Here is an overview of the synthesis, properties, and applications of graphene and related materials (primarily, graphite oxide and its colloidal suspensions and materials made from them), from a materials science perspective.

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Graphene and Graphene Oxide: Synthesis, Properties, and Applications

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) offer the possibilities to design solar cells with a large flexibility in shape, color, and transparency. DSC research groups have been established around the worl ...

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Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

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

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Honeycomb Carbon: A Review of Graphene

Since the discovery of mechanically exfoliated graphene in 2004, research on ultrathin two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials has grown exponentially in the fields of condensed matter physics, material science, chemistry, and nanotechnology. Highlighting their compelling physical, chemical, electronic, and optical properties, as well as their various potential applications, in this Review, we summarize the state-of-art progress on the ultrathin 2D nanomaterials with a particular emphasis on their recent advances. First, we introduce the unique advances on ultrathin 2D nanomaterials, followed by the description of their composition and crystal structures. The assortments of their synthetic methods are then summarized, including insights on their advantages and limitations, alongside some recommendations on suitable characterization techniques. We also discuss in detail the utilization of these ultrathin 2D nanomaterials for wide ranges of potential applications among the electronics/optoelectronics, electrocat...

Recent Advances in Ultrathin Two-Dimensional Nanomaterials

Electrolytes in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Natural dyes as photosensitizers for dye-sensitized solar cell

Photocatalytic discolorization of methyl orange solution by Pt modified TiO2 loaded on natural zeolite

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have aroused intense interest over the past decade owing to their low cost and simple preparation procedures. Much effort has been de- voted to the study of electrolytes that enable light-to-electrical power conversion for DSSC applications. This review focuses on recent progress in the field of liquid, solid-state, and quasi-solid-state electrolytes for DSSCs. It is believed that quasi-solid-state electrolytes, es- pecially those utilizing thermosetting gels, are particularly applicable for fabricating high photoelectric performance and long-term stability of DSSCs in practical applications.

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Progress on the electrolytes for dye-sensitized solar cells

Using poly(N-methyl-4-vinyl-pyridine iodide), N-methyl-pyridine iodide and iodine, a solid polymer electrolyte with conductivity of 6.41 mS/cm is prepared. On the basis of a solid polymer electrolyte, a conducting graphite layer, a KI block layer, and a vacuum assembling technique, we achieve an all-solid-state dye-sensitized solar cell with total photoelectric conversion efficiency of 5.64% under AM 1.5 simulated solar light (100 mW/cm2) illumination.

Yunfang Huang

Papers

Electrolytes in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Natural dyes as photosensitizers for dye-sensitized solar cell

Photocatalytic discolorization of methyl orange solution by Pt modified TiO2 loaded on natural zeolite

Progress on the electrolytes for dye-sensitized solar cells

An all-solid-state dye-sensitized solar cell-based poly(N-alkyl-4-vinyl-pyridine iodide) electrolyte with efficiency of 5.64%.