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.

A New Approach for Photocorrosion Inhibition of Ag2CO3 Photocatalyst with Highly Visible-Light-Responsive Reactivity

Abstract: A novel visible-light-responsive photocatalyst Ag2CO3 was prepared by a facile precipitation reaction between NaHCO3 and AgNO3. The as-prepared samples showed relatively high photocatalytic activity toward rhodamine B (RhB) degradation in aqueous solution. The observed photoreactivity on Ag2CO3 was attributed to the synergetic effects of small band gap, great oxidation potential of photogenerated holes, and high separation efficiency of photogenerated electrons and holes. Nevertheless, Ag2CO3 was unstable under visible light due to the photocorrosion resulting from metallic silver formation. The photocorrosion of Ag2CO3 can be efficiently inhibited by adding AgNO3 in the photocatalytic reaction system owing to the lower electrode potential of Ag/AgNO3 than that of Ag/Ag2CO3. Our results shed new light on the photocatalytic activity as well as photocorrosion mechanism of silver-containing compounds and inhibit the method of photocorrosion.

Design Principles, Sensing Mechanisms, and Applications of Highly Specific Fluorescent Probes for HOCl/OCl.

Abstract: ConspectusHypochlorous acid/hypochlorite (HOCl/OCl–), one of the most important reactive oxygen species (ROS), plays vital roles in various physiological and pathological processes. At normal conce...

A general route via formamide condensation to prepare atomically dispersed metal–nitrogen–carbon electrocatalysts for energy technologies

Abstract: Single-atom electrocatalysts (SAECs) have gained tremendous attention due to their unique active sites and strong metal–substrate interactions. However, the current synthesis of SAECs mostly relies on costly precursors and rigid synthetic conditions and often results in very low content of single-site metal atoms. Herein, we report an efficient synthesis method to prepare metal–nitrogen–carbon SAECs based on formamide condensation and carbonization, featuring a cost-effective general methodology for the mass production of SAECs with high loading of atomically dispersed metal sites. The products with metal inclusion were termed as formamide-converted metal–nitrogen–carbon (shortened as f-MNC) materials. Seven types of single-metallic f-MNC (Fe, Co, Ni, Mn, Zn, Mo and Ir), two bi-metallic (ZnFe and ZnCo) and one tri-metallic (ZnFeCo) SAECs were synthesized to demonstrate the generality of the methodology developed. Remarkably, these f-MNC SAECs can be coated onto various supports with an ultrathin layer as pyrolysis-free electrocatalysts, among which the carbon nanotube-supported f-FeNC and f-NiNC SAECs showed high performance for the O2 reduction reaction (ORR) and the CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR), respectively. Furthermore, the pyrolysis products of supported f-MNC can still render isolated metallic sites with excellent activity, as exemplified by the bi-metallic f-FeCoNC SAEC, which exhibited outstanding ORR performance in both alkaline and acid electrolytes by delivering ∼70 and ∼20 mV higher half-wave potentials than that of commercial 20 wt% Pt/C, respectively. This work offers a feasible approach to design and manufacture SAECs with tuneable atomic metal components and high density of single-site metal loading, and thus may accelerate the deployment of SAECs for various energy technology applications.

H2WO4·H2O/Ag/AgCl Composite Nanoplates: A Plasmonic Z-Scheme Visible-Light Photocatalyst

Abstract: The Z-scheme has been proven to be an effective strategy to develop a high-efficiency visible-light photocatalyst. However, the visible-light-responding active component in the Z-scheme system is usually restricted to semiconductor materials sensitive to visible light. On the other hand, noble-metal nanoparticles (such as Ag) can act as an active component for the design of high-efficiency plasmonic photocatalysts due to their strong absorption in the visible light region. In this study, H2WO4·H2O/Ag/AgCl composite nanoplates were prepared by a one-step ionic reaction between Ag8W4O16/Ag nanorods and HCl aqueous solution. The photocatalytic activity experiments indicated that the H2WO4·H2O/Ag/AgCl composite nanoplates exhibited a much higher photocatalytic activity than the one-component (H2WO4·H2O) or two-component (such as Ag/AgCl and H2WO4·H2O/Ag) photocatalysts. On the basis of photocatalytic activity and band structure analysis, a plasmonic Z-scheme photocatalytic mechanism is proposed; namely, two-s...