Photoactive nanoarchitectures based on clays incorporating TiO₂ and ZnO nanoparticles

• Eduardo Ruiz-Hitzky,
• Pilar Aranda,
• Marwa Akkari,
• Nithima Khaorapapong and
• Makoto Ogawa

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1140–1156, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.114

• often than ZnO NPs regarding their use as photocatalysts. One of the main applications of clay–semiconductor materials is the mineralization of organic pollutants, which represents an ideal solution for the remediation of wastewater contaminated with diverse organic species. This process consists in the

• oxidative decomposition of organic pollutants to non-toxic inorganic species such as carbon dioxide, avoiding the formation of any kind of residual sludge [23]. In fact, advanced oxidation processes (AOP) might be considered as promising technologies for the sustainable removal of pollutants from urban

• alkoxides, salts or coordination complexes, remain associated with the delaminated clay sheets, resulting in stable and efficient photoactive catalysts of particular interest for the removal of organic pollutants from wastewater [84][87][89][106][107][118][128]. Akkari and co-workers [118] have recently

Tailoring the stability/aggregation of one-dimensional TiO₂(B)/titanate nanowires using surfactants

• Atiđa Selmani,
• Johannes Lützenkirchen,
• Kristina Kučanda,
• Dario Dabić,
• Engelbert Redel,
• Ida Delač Marion,
• Damir Kralj,
• Darija Domazet Jurašin and
• Maja Dutour Sikirić

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1024–1037, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.103

• because of their unique physicochemical properties compared to the bulk material. TNMs play an important role in various applications such as photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants [1][2], sensors [3][4], solid oxide fuel cells [5], water purification [6][7], adsorption of radioactive and heavy

New micro/mesoporous nanocomposite material from low-cost sources for the efficient removal of aromatic and pathogenic pollutants from water

• Emmanuel I. Unuabonah,
• Robert Nöske,
• Jens Weber,
• Christina Günter and
• Andreas Taubert

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 119–131, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.11

• situations. As a result, cheap yet highly efficient materials that can be used for the purification of very large volumes of water are therefore highly sought after [4]. This approach applies to all subgroups of contaminants – heavy metals, organic pollutants, and biological contaminants. One approach to

Impact of the anodization time on the photocatalytic activity of TiO₂ nanotubes

• Jesús A. Díaz-Real,
• Geyla C. Dubed-Bandomo,
• Juan Galindo-de-la-Rosa,
• Luis G. Arriaga,
• Janet Ledesma-García and
• Nicolas Alonso-Vante

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2628–2643, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.244

• such as excellent chemical stability, photo-corrosion resistance, low cost, and low toxicity make TiO2 a material suitable for energy production and environmental applications, such as advanced oxidation processes for the decomposition of organic pollutants in water [2][3]. However, the material

Nanocellulose: Recent advances and its prospects in environmental remediation

• Katrina Pui Yee Shak,
• Yean Ling Pang and
• Shee Keat Mah

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2479–2498, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.232

• concerns warrant the application of bio-renewable polymers in the production of nanomaterials. In recent years, nanomaterials have displayed potential in effective detection and removal of greenhouse gases, chemical contaminants, organic pollutants, and biological agents. These materials come in various

• adsorbent for wastewater treatment due to its adsorption affinity towards organic pollutants. Unlike micrometre-sized cellulose, the nanometre-sized counterparts are relatively smaller in dimensional size but also possess a larger surface area with improved porosity, which limits internal diffusion and

• nanocellulose for example, is desired due to their good performance in the removal of organic pollutants. Hokkanen et al. [88] reported that calcium hydroxyapatite-microfibrillated cellulose adsorbent was effective for the removal of chromium (Cr(VI)) from aqueous solution. They found that calcium

ZnO-nanostructure-based electrochemical sensor: Effect of nanostructure morphology on the sensing of heavy metal ions

• Marina Krasovska,
• Vjaceslavs Gerbreders,
• Irena Mihailova,
• Andrejs Ogurcovs,
• Eriks Sledevskis,
• Andrejs Gerbreders and
• Pavels Sarajevs

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2421–2431, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.227

• the presence of lead and other heavy ions, even in small quantities, is an important and topical task. ZnO nanostructures are promising candidates for use in such sensors. They are sensitive to various types of contamination, including almost all heavy metal ions and organic pollutants, and show very

SERS active Ag–SiO₂ nanoparticles obtained by laser ablation of silver in colloidal silica

• Cristina Gellini,
• Francesco Muniz-Miranda,
• Alfonso Pedone and
• Maurizio Muniz-Miranda

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2396–2404, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.224

• chemical reactants. These nanocomposites, which combine the adsorption properties of silica with the plasmonic properties of nanometer-sized silver, can be used for several purposes, for example, for the SERS detection of environmental contaminants such as POPs (persistent organic pollutants), as

Synthesis of a MnO₂/Fe₃O₄/diatomite nanocomposite as an efficient heterogeneous Fenton-like catalyst for methylene blue degradation

• Zishun Li,
• Xuekun Tang,
• Kun Liu,
• Jing Huang,
• Yueyang Xu,
• Qian Peng and
• Minlin Ao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1940–1950, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.185

• ) oxide (Fe3O4); manganese(IV) oxide (MnO2); Introduction Organic contaminants are widely distributed in water and soil due to the excessive emissions of industrial processes, which causes a great threat to the ecosystem as well as to human health [1][2][3]. Most of the organic pollutants are toxic and

• -based catalysts, MnO2 shows good catalytic performance because of the Mn(III)/Mn(IV) redox loop and much less sludge formation due to the neutral functional pH value [11][12]. Although, the MnO2-PMS system shows good prospect in the treatment of organic pollutants, modifications focusing on the

• organic pollutants. XRD patterns of the purified diatomite and the prepared diatomite-supported composites. FTIR spectra of the purified diatomite and prepared diatomite-supported composites. The SEM images of diatomite (a), Fe3O4/diatomite (b, d), MnO2/Fe3O4/diatomite (c and e), EDX spectrum (f) and

Sulfur-, nitrogen- and platinum-doped titania thin films with high catalytic efficiency under visible-light illumination

• Boštjan Žener,
• Lev Matoh,
• Giorgio Carraro,
• Bojan Miljević and
• Romana Cerc Korošec

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1629–1640, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.155

• of Novi Sad, Faculty of Technology, Bulevar cara Lazara 1, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia 10.3762/bjnano.9.155 Abstract Titanium dioxide photocatalysts have received a lot of attention during the past decades due to their ability to degrade various organic pollutants to CO2 and H2O, which makes them

Cr(VI) remediation from aqueous environment through modified-TiO₂-mediated photocatalytic reduction

• Rashmi Acharya,
• Brundabana Naik and
• Kulamani Parida

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1448–1470, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.137

• irradiation of suitable light energy. The mechanism of photodegradation of organic pollutants involves the formation of reactive species like O2•− and •OH as per Equation 6 and Equation 7. Some of the O2•− species combine with H+ ions to form •OOH as represented in Equation 8. These active species (•OH, O2

• •− and •OOH) decompose the organic pollutants to less harmful compounds like H2O and CO2 (Equation 9). Photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI) The semiconductor-mediated photocatalytic reduction of aqueous Cr(VI) has also recently gained tremendous importance because of its simple operation under ambient

Ag₂WO₄ nanorods decorated with AgI nanoparticles: Novel and efficient visible-light-driven photocatalysts for the degradation of water pollutants

• Shijie Li,
• Shiwei Hu,
• Wei Jiang,
• Yanping Liu,
• Yu Liu,
• Yingtang Zhou,
• Liuye Mo and
• Jianshe Liu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1308–1316, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.123

• still achieves the highest apparent rate constant (0.0292 min−1 for MO degradation and 0.0129 min−1 for 4-CP degradation) among all these samples. The mineralization of organic pollutants is crucial for pollutant treatment [46]. Thus, the total organic carbon (TOC) removal efficiency of RhB over 0.3AgI

Facile synthesis of a ZnO–BiOI p–n nano-heterojunction with excellent visible-light photocatalytic activity

• Mengyuan Zhang,
• Jiaqian Qin,
• Pengfei Yu,
• Bing Zhang,
• Mingzhen Ma,
• Xinyu Zhang and
• Riping Liu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 789–800, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.72

• , probably a result of the quantum confinement effect in the nanometer-sized ZnO particles. Photocatalytic degradation To test the as-synthesized samples’ ability to remove organic pollutants from waste water, the photodegradation of RhB was carried out under illumination by visible light from a 300 W Xe

Fabrication and photoactivity of ionic liquid–TiO₂ structures for efficient visible-light-induced photocatalytic decomposition of organic pollutants in aqueous phase

• Anna Gołąbiewska,
• Marta Paszkiewicz-Gawron,
• Aleksandra Sadzińska,
• Wojciech Lisowski,
• Ewelina Grabowska,
• Adriana Zaleska-Medynska and
• Justyna Łuczak

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 580–590, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.54

• at the surface of the IL–TiO2 material under visible-light illumination, and is responsible for the effective phenol degradation. Keywords: heterogeneous photocatalysis; ionic liquids; TiO2; visible light catalysis; Introduction The development of heterogeneous photocatalysis to degrade organic

• pollutants in aqueous and gas phases requires visible-light responsive, stable materials and a basic understanding of these materials [1][2][3][4]. Although various semiconductors are considered for environmental pollution abatement, titanium dioxide (TiO2) is still the most promising due to its stability

Facile synthesis of ZnFe₂O₄ photocatalysts for decolourization of organic dyes under solar irradiation

• Arjun Behera,
• Debasmita Kandi,
• Sanjit Manohar Majhi,
• Satyabadi Martha and
• Kulamani Parida

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 436–446, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.42

• can be described by the following equations: Hence the net reaction is Rh B/CR + •OH + •O2− → decolourization. Degradation of phenol In order to show its versatility, the ZFO-500 photocatalyst was also tested in degradation of colourless organic pollutants. We have used phenol as a model pollutant

Facile synthesis of silver/silver thiocyanate (Ag@AgSCN) plasmonic nanostructures with enhanced photocatalytic performance

• Xinfu Zhao,
• Dairong Chen,
• Abdul Qayum,
• Bo Chen and
• Xiuling Jiao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2781–2789, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.277

• and environmental friendlessness. For example, as a typical semiconductor, TiO2 exhibits high photocatalytic degradation performance against a large number of organic pollutants [5][6][7]. However, it is difficult to obtain a high photocatalytic activity under visible-light irradiation with TiO2 as a

Fabrication of gold-coated PDMS surfaces with arrayed triangular micro/nanopyramids for use as SERS substrates

• Jingran Zhang,
• Yongda Yan,
• Peng Miao and
• Jianxiong Cai

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2271–2282, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.227

• rhodamine 6G (R6G) were detected as test analytes [17]. The micro/nanostructures of a blue butterfly wing were used as a template, and a SERS substrate was produced and utilized to detect rhodamine dye for the elimination of organic pollutants [19]. Additionally, pyramidal array structures on conventional

Fabrication of carbon nanospheres by the pyrolysis of polyacrylonitrile–poly(methyl methacrylate) core–shell composite nanoparticles

• Dafu Wei,
• Youwei Zhang and
• Jinping Fu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1897–1908, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.190

• /g were obtained from the PAN–PMMA nanoparticles synthesized at an FVR of 1.6. The carbon nanospheres exhibited a large adsorption capacity of 190.0 mg/g for methylene blue, thus making them excellent adsorbents for the removal of organic pollutants from water. Keywords: carbon nanospheres; core

• exhibit a high BET specific surface area of 612.8 m2/g and a large adsorption capacity of 190.0 mg/g for methylene blue, thus making them excellent adsorbents for the removal of organic pollutants from water. Experimental Materials Acrylonitrile (AN) was distilled before use to remove the inhibitor

• as a model for organic pollutants) from water. The absorption of MB on CP6 was very fast; the adsorption capacity and the removal efficiency of MB after 2 h of adsorption reached 190.0 mg/g and 96.1%, respectively. The MB adsorption capacity of CP6 is higher than most of those reported carbon

Two-dimensional carbon-based nanocomposites for photocatalytic energy generation and environmental remediation applications

• Suneel Kumar,
• Ashish Kumar,
• Ashish Bahuguna,
• Vipul Sharma and
• Venkata Krishnan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1571–1600, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.159

• oxidizing agent and can degrade organic pollutants [12]. Moreover, the pollutants may also be directly oxidized by the holes (h+) due to their oxidizing nature, but the detailed reaction mechanism is still under debate. In addition, photoexcited electrons in the CB of a semiconductor can reduce H+ ions in

ZnO nanoparticles sensitized by CuInZn_xS_2+x quantum dots as highly efficient solar light driven photocatalysts

• Florian Donat,
• Serge Corbel,
• Halima Alem,
• Steve Pontvianne,
• Lavinia Balan,
• Ghouti Medjahdi and
• Raphaël Schneider

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1080–1093, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.110

• heterojunction created between the ZCIS QDs and ZnO nanoparticle. Finally, due to its ease of preparation, low cost, high stability and weak sensitivity to interfering species such as salts, the ZnO/ZCIS photocatalyst exhibits a high potential for practical applications beyond the degradation of organic

• pollutants, for example, for the production of new energy sources. (a) TEM image of ZCIS QDs and (b) the corresponding size distribution. TEM and HR-TEM images of (c) ZnO nanoparticles and (d,e) the ZnO/ZCIS composite. (f) XRD patterns of ZCIS QDs, ZnO nanoparticles and of the ZnO/ZCIS composite. (a) SEM

High photocatalytic activity of Fe₂O₃/TiO₂ nanocomposites prepared by photodeposition for degradation of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid

• Shu Chin Lee,
• Hendrik O. Lintang and
• Leny Yuliati

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 915–926, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.93

• have been widely suggested for environmental remediation under mild conditions. In the presence of only a photocatalyst and a light source of appropriate energy, the process can mineralize organic pollutants to harmless products such as carbon dioxide and water. Among the semiconductor photocatalysts

• , titanium dioxide (TiO2) has been the foremost established material for degradation of organic pollutants [1][2]. In addition to its nontoxicity, abundance and relatively low cost, TiO2 also shows excellent photocatalytic activity in many degradation reactions. Unfortunately, the photocatalytic performance

• (III) oxide (Fe2O3), which is nontoxic, stable, cost effective and found abundantly in the earth. It has been reported that Fe2O3 can be used to increase the photocatalytic activity or selectivity of semiconductor photocatalysts for degradation of organic pollutants [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14

Modeling adsorption of brominated, chlorinated and mixed bromo/chloro-dibenzo-p-dioxins on C₆₀ fullerene using Nano-QSPR

• Piotr Urbaszek,
• Agnieszka Gajewicz,
• Celina Sikorska,
• Maciej Haranczyk and
• Tomasz Puzyn

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 752–761, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.78

• present and dangerous Studies on chlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) as representatives of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) [1] are an important area of the environmental sciences and scientific research [2][3][4][5]. PCDDs are usually represented by 2,3,7,8-tetrachloro dibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD

• ) with a modeled property (energy of the PXDD@C60 complex). It is a computational technique that, to the best of our knowledge, is the first published example of the use of Nano-QSPR to predict interactions between fullerenes and numerous organic pollutants. Results Nano-QSPR model Based on the

• experimental and theoretical studies on sorption mechanisms of organic pollutants on carbon nanomaterial surfaces are critical. Experimental Congener characterization A set of 1,701 congeners containing all combinatorial possibilities of bromine, chlorine and mixed (Br/Cl) substitutions of dibenzo-p-dioxins

Synthesis of graphene–transition metal oxide hybrid nanoparticles and their application in various fields

• Arpita Jana,
• Elke Scheer and
• Sebastian Polarz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 688–714, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.74

• ), sensors, photocatalysts, removal of organic pollutants, etc. Recent studies have shown that a single graphene sheet (GS) has extraordinary electronic transport properties. One possible route to connecting those properties for application in electronics would be to prepare graphene-wrapped TMO NPs. In this

Investigation of the photocatalytic efficiency of tantalum alkoxy carboxylate-derived Ta₂O₅ nanoparticles in rhodamine B removal

• Subia Ambreen,
• Mohammad Danish,
• Narendra D. Pandey and
• Ashutosh Pandey

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 604–613, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.65

• and CeO2, serve as potential photocatalysts [1][2][3][4]. The properties of the metal oxide nanoparticles (surface area, band gap, porosity) determine its photocatalytic activity for the degradation of organic pollutants from water. Because of properties such as high refractive index and large band

Photocatalysis applications of some hybrid polymeric composites incorporating TiO₂ nanoparticles and their combinations with SiO₂/Fe₂O₃

• Andreea Laura Chibac,
• Tinca Buruiana,
• Violeta Melinte and
• Emil C. Buruiana

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 272–286, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.30

• degrading hydroxybenzene derivatives under UV and visible light, was investigated using hybrid films in aqueous solutions. The motivation for this selection is that the phenolic compounds play a major role among the various organic pollutants that cause environmental hazard, being a part of the widely used

• pollutant solutions showed only slight degradation. Therefore, an efficient degradation of toxic organic pollutants needs the presence of light and TiO2-based catalysts. In general, the photocatalytic mechanism of the materials incorporating TiO2 NPs can be described as follows: The TiO2 nanoparticles

Organoclay hybrid materials as precursors of porous ZnO/silica-clay heterostructures for photocatalytic applications

• Marwa Akkari,
• Pilar Aranda,
• Abdessalem Ben Haj Amara and
• Eduardo Ruiz-Hitzky

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1971–1982, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.188

• photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants [3][4][5][6]. It should be remembered that nanoparticulated zinc oxide is a wide-band gap II–VI semiconductor with a band-gap energy of around 3.4 eV, which is of great interest for photocatalytic applications [7]. ZnO nanoparticles (NP) have been assembled to

• immobilized and photoactive. To confirm this, the resulting ZnO/silica-clay heterostructured porous solids have been tested in photocatalytic experiments using water solutions of methylene blue (MB) dye or ibupofren drug, as models of organic pollutants, to prove their efficiency as photocatalysts for