Wuhan University of Technology

About: Wuhan University of Technology is a education organization based out in Wuhan, China. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Microstructure & Catalysis. The organization has 40384 authors who have published 36724 publications receiving 575695 citations. The organization is also known as: WUT.

Preparation and photocatalytic activity of mesoporous anatase TiO2 nanofibers by a hydrothermal method

Abstract: Mesoporous anatase TiO2 nanofibers were prepared by a simple hydrothermal post-treatment of titanate nanotubes. The as-prepared samples were characterized with transmission electron microscopy (TEM), thermogravimetry (TG), X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), and N2 adsorption–desorption measurement. The photocatalytic activity of the mesoporous TiO2 nanofibers was evaluated by photocatalytic oxidation of acetone in air. The effects of hydrothermal post-treatment time on the structures and photocatalytic activity of the mesoporous TiO2 nanofibers were discussed. The results showed that the photocatalytic activity of the TiO2 nanofibers prepared by this method exceeded that of Degussa P25 when the hydrothermal post-treatment time was kept at 200 °C for 3–24 h. This could be attributed to the fact that the former had smaller crystallite size, larger specific surface area, and higher pore volume.

Nature-based catalyst for visible-light-driven photocatalytic CO2 reduction

Abstract: We demonstrate a rational fabrication of hierarchical treated rape pollen (TRP), a biological material used as a metal-free catalyst for visible-light-driven photocatalytic CO2 reduction. The TRP catalyst exhibits excellent visible-light-driven carbon monoxide (CO) formation of 488.4 μmol h−1 g−1 with 98.3% selectivity, using no co-catalyst or sacrifice reagent, accompanied by a high quantum efficiency of over 6.7% at 420 nm. The CO evolution rate obtained on the TRP catalyst is roughly 29.4 and 25.6 times higher than those of the most commonly reported photocatalysts, such as g-C3N4 (16.6 μmol h−1 g−1) and P25 TiO2 (19.1 μmol h−1 g−1), and is the highest among the reported carbon-based photocatalysts. In situ Fourier transform infrared spectrometry analysis disclosed that formic acid is a major intermediate. The considerable photocatalytic CO2 reduction activity observed on the TRP catalyst can be ascribed to the following factors: (i) the unique hollow porous structure of the TRP favours visible light harvesting and CO2 adsorption capacity; and (ii) the interior cavity of the TRP can decrease the diffusion length of the photogenerated reactive charge carrier from bulk to surface, thus promoting charge carrier separation. We anticipate that such a nature-based sustainable photocatalyst can provide new insights to facilitate the design of metal-free catalysts with outstanding visible-light-driven CO2 reduction performance.