Recent trends in Bi-based nanomaterials: challenges, fabrication, enhancement techniques, and environmental applications

• Vishal Dutta,
• Ankush Chauhan,
• Ritesh Verma,
• C. Gopalkrishnan and
• Van-Huy Nguyen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1316–1336, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.109

• environmental restoration and energy conversion is photocatalysis powered by solar light. Traditional photocatalysts have limited practical uses due to inadequate light absorption, charge separation, and unknown reaction mechanisms. Discovering new visible-light photocatalysts and investigating their

• modification is crucial in photocatalysis. Bi-based photocatalytic nanomaterials have gotten much interest as they exhibit distinctive geometric shapes, flexible electronic structures, and good photocatalytic performance under visible light. They can be employed as stand-alone photocatalysts for pollution

• , and SrTiO3), sulfates (e.g., MoS2 and Bi2S3), selenides (e.g., MoSe2 and CdSe), and phosphates (e.g., Ag3PO4) [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. The bandgap of photocatalysts sensitive to visible light is smaller than 3 eV. Wide-bandgap photocatalysts can only be stimulated by ultraviolet light, which

A super-oscillatory step-zoom metalens for visible light

• Yi Zhou,
• Chao Yan,
• Peng Tian,
• Zhu Li,
• Yu He,
• Bin Fan,
• Zhiyong Wang,
• Yao Deng and
• Dongliang Tang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1220–1227, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.101

Rapid fabrication of MgO@g-C₃N₄ heterojunctions for photocatalytic nitric oxide removal

• Minh-Thuan Pham,
• Duyen P. H. Tran,
• Xuan-Thanh Bui and
• Sheng-Jie You

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1141–1154, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.96

• environment, human health, and other biotas. Among the technologies to treat NO pollution, photocatalytic oxidation under visible light is considered an effective means. This study describes photocatalytic oxidation to degrade NO under visible light with the support of a photocatalyst. MgO@g-C3N4

• heterojunction photocatalysts were synthesized by one-step pyrolysis of MgO and urea at 550 °C for two hours. The photocatalytic NO removal efficiency of the MgO@g-C3N4 heterojunctions was significantly improved and reached a maximum value of 75.4% under visible light irradiation. Differential reflectance

• simple way to synthesize photocatalytic heterojunction materials with high reusability and the potential of heterojunction photocatalysts in the field of environmental remediation. Keywords: g-C3N4; MgO; nitric oxide; photocatalyst; visible light; Introduction The rapid development of industrialization

Green synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles toward highly efficient photocatalysis and antibacterial application

• Vo Thi Thu Nhu,
• Nguyen Duy Dat,
• Le-Minh Tam and
• Nguyen Hoang Phuong

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1108–1119, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.94

• that the prepared ZnO material excellently removed MB and MO (cinitial = 10 mg/L) with efficiencies of 100% and 82.78%, respectively, after 210 min under UV radiation with a ZnO NP dose of 2 g/L. The photocatalyst activity of the synthesized material was also tested under visible light radiation with

• under UV light was higher than that under visible light. The degradation of MB (10 mg/L) under visible and UV light by ZnO NPs was 50.46% and 100%, respectively, after 210 min of irradiation. The degradation efficiency of MO (10 mg/L) by ZnO was lower than that of MB (10 mg/L). After 210 min of

• irradiation by visible and UV light, the MO degradation efficiency by ZnO NPs reached 33.56 and 82.78%, respectively. ZnO has a rather high bandgap energy; therefore, the degradation efficiency of organic substances under visible light is not as high as that under UV light. Maddu et al. [34] studied the

Spindle-like MIL101(Fe) decorated with Bi₂O₃ nanoparticles for enhanced degradation of chlortetracycline under visible-light irradiation

• Chen-chen Hao,
• Fang-yan Chen,
• Kun Bian,
• Yu-bin Tang and
• Wei-long Shi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1038–1050, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.91

• cavities, and excellent thermal stability [20][21]. These advantages make it appalling to adsorption [22], gaseous capture/separation [23], sensing [24], and drug release applications [25]. Moreover, some MOFs can be excited under UV or visible light and exhibit light harvesting properties due to ligand

• iron and bridged terephthalic acid molecules. It has high hydrothermal stability, low cost, good hydrophilicity, non-toxicity, and environmental friendliness [20][34]. Most importantly, MIL101(Fe) contains abundant iron-oxo (Fe-O) clusters, which makes it a photocatalyst with visible-light response [19

• use carbon nanotubes or carbon quantum dots to modify MIL101(Fe) to enhance its conductivity and broaden its visible-light response [37][38]. Another strategy is to construct MIL101-based heterostructures with the aid of narrow-gap semiconductors to promote the separation and transfer of

Solar-light-driven LaFe_xNi_1−xO₃ perovskite oxides for photocatalytic Fenton-like reaction to degrade organic pollutants

• Chao-Wei Huang,
• Shu-Yu Hsu,
• Jun-Han Lin,
• Yun Jhou,
• Wei-Yu Chen,
• Kun-Yi Andrew Lin,
• Yu-Tang Lin and
• Van-Huy Nguyen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 882–895, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.79

• Fenton reaction, a photo-Fenton reaction excited by ultraviolet light or visible light can achieve a faster reaction rate and a complete degree of oxidation [19]. Besides, it shows a positive relationship between light intensity and photocatalytic activity. With the assistance of light irradiation, the

• nanoparticles via the sol–gel method to decompose rhodamine-B under visible light irradiation. With the assistance of H2O2, it shows a synergistic effect between photocatalytic reaction and heterogeneous photo-Fenton-like reaction [23]. Furthermore, the strategies of being loaded over supports (such as g-C3N4

• , methylene blue, and rhodamine B under visible light irradiation. Their optimal sample was LaFe0.85Cu0.15O3, which could remove dyes much more efficiently due to more generation of hydroxyl radicals than pure LaFeO3 [31]. Ni-doped LaFeO3 was ubiquitously employed as a photo/thermal catalyst or a catalyst

Hierarchical Bi₂WO₆/TiO₂-nanotube composites derived from natural cellulose for visible-light photocatalytic treatment of pollutants

• Zehao Lin,
• Zhan Yang and
• Jianguo Huang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 745–762, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.66

• nanotubes were formed by TiO2 nanotubes that uniformly anchored with Bi2WO6 nanoparticles of various densities on the surface. The composites exhibited improved photocatalytic activities toward the reduction of Cr(VI) and degradation of rhodamine B under visible light (λ > 420 nm), which were attributed to

• visible light together with an accelerated separation and transfer of the photogenerated electron–hole pairs of the nanocomposites, which resulted in increased effective amounts of photogenerated carriers for the photocatalytic reactions. It was demonstrated that the photoinduced electrons dominated the

• ][8]. However, the wide bandgap of TiO2 inhibits the absorption of light in the visible region and the rapid recombination of photogenerated electron−hole pairs restrains its photocatalytic activity. It has been verified that constructing TiO2-based heterostructured composites by using visible-light

Sodium doping in brookite TiO₂ enhances its photocatalytic activity

• Boxiang Zhuang,
• Honglong Shi,
• Honglei Zhang and
• Zeqian Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 599–609, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.52

• exceeded four times that of P25 under visible light irradiation [8]. The degradation of methyl orange by brookite nanoflowers was much more efficient than that by anatase nanorods [9]. Moreover, the heterojunction of brookite TiO2 can enhance the photocatalytic activity (e.g., the rutile/brookite TiO2

Zinc oxide nanostructures for fluorescence and Raman signal enhancement: a review

• Ioana Marica,
• Fran Nekvapil,
• Maria Ștefan,
• Cosmin Farcău and
• Alexandra Falamaș

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 472–490, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.40

• (ZnO) and the metal. [71] showed that ZnO NRs with Ag-based substrates presented an enhancement of the Raman signal by acquiring a charge equilibration between the Fermi level of the metal and the CB of the ZnO. Excitation with visible light led to the following mechanism (Figure 4): The electrons from

• applications for optoelectronic devices, namely light-emitting diodes for both UV and visible light [89]. Also, the combination with metallic nanoparticles has been proposed for enhanced UV light-emitting diodes [90]. Another significant application of ZnO-based substrates is to boost the performance of dye

Engineered titania nanomaterials in advanced clinical applications

• Padmavati Sahare,
• Paulina Govea Alvarez,
• Juan Manual Sanchez Yanez,
• Gabriel Luna-Bárcenas,
• Samik Chakraborty,
• Sujay Paul and
• Miriam Estevez

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 201–218, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.15

• TiO2 nps [83]. TiO2 supported on silica nanospheres was checked for its antibacterial activity against E. coli, and the result demonstrated a more effective growth inhibition than that of commercial TiO2-P25 under ultraviolet and visible light [84]. Copper is well known for its antimicrobial properties

A comprehensive review on electrospun nanohybrid membranes for wastewater treatment

• Senuri Kumarage,
• Imalka Munaweera and
• Nilwala Kottegoda

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 137–159, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.10

A photonic crystal material for the online detection of nonpolar hydrocarbon vapors

• Evgenii S. Bolshakov,
• Aleksander V. Ivanov,
• Andrei A. Kozlov,
• Anton S. Aksenov,
• Elena V. Isanbaeva,
• Sergei E. Kushnir,
• Aleksei D. Yapryntsev,
• Aleksander E. Baranchikov and
• Yury A. Zolotov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 127–136, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.9

• polymer regarding material strength. Method Figure 8a shows the scheme of the experimental equipment. It consists of the spectrophotometer “eye-one Pro” and a peripheral device, which is made of black composite material based on epoxy resins for visible-light absorption and to elude backward reflection

Tin dioxide nanomaterial-based photocatalysts for nitrogen oxide oxidation: a review

• Viet Van Pham,
• Hong-Huy Tran,
• Thao Kim Truong and
• Thi Minh Cao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 96–113, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.7

• quantum dots (SQDs) were heated from 200 to 700 °C, which indicated that the bandgap of the SQDs decreased from 3.49 to 2.52 eV (for SQD-700) as shown in Figure 3. These results demonstrated that the redshift is favorable for a photocatalytic activity in the visible light region. Meanwhile, Fan et al. [47

• process. Table 1 shows a comparison of the NO photocatalytic oxidation ability of neat SnO2 and modified SnO2 materials. Recent studies on this material system mainly focus on modifying SnO2 toward the application in the visible light region. Charge transfer improvement The combination of SnO2 with other

• organic semiconductors such as graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) [71]. When acting as an auxiliary photocatalyst, SnO2 promotes the photocatalytic activity of the primary material [38][70][75][76]. Wu et al. reported the visible-light-driven elimination of NO over hydrothermally synthesized BiOBr/SnO2 p–n

Comprehensive review on ultrasound-responsive theranostic nanomaterials: mechanisms, structures and medical applications

• Sepand Tehrani Fateh,
• Lida Moradi,
• Elmira Kohan,
• Michael R. Hamblin and
• Amin Shiralizadeh Dezfuli

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 808–862, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.64

Recent progress in actuation technologies of micro/nanorobots

• Ke Xu and
• Bing Liu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 756–765, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.59

• an inactive sphere to an active moving non-sphere. Conversely, when the robot is illuminated by visible light, the microtubes cannot interact with the membrane, that is to say, the clutch is disengaged, and the robot will also change back to a spherical shape and stop moving. This research

Recent progress in magnetic applications for micro- and nanorobots

• Ke Xu,
• Shuang Xu and
• Fanan Wei

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 744–755, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.58

• to the human body or the environment caused by other materials such as lead. In addition, Gopal et al. [48] pointed out that boron exhibits diamagnetic properties in B-doped anatase TiO2 nanoparticles and showed photocatalytic activity in the visible-light range. Magnetic MNRs were applied to the

High-yield synthesis of silver nanowires for transparent conducting PET films

• Gul Naz,
• Hafsa Asghar,
• Muhammad Ramzan,
• Muhammad Arshad,
• Rashid Ahmed,
• Muhammad Bilal Tahir,
• Bakhtiar Ul Haq,
• Nadeem Baig and
• Junaid Jalil

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 624–632, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.51

• wavelength. The transmissivity values of AgNW-loaded PET films were measured using the UV–vis spectrophotometer in visible light wavelength range. A digital multimeter was used to measure the sheet resistance of the PET films. To test the uniformity and electrical conductivity of the PET films, an electrical

Nanoporous and nonporous conjugated donor–acceptor polymer semiconductors for photocatalytic hydrogen production

• Zhao-Qi Sheng,
• Yu-Qin Xing,
• Yan Chen,
• Guang Zhang,
• Shi-Yong Liu and
• Long Chen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 607–623, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.50

• generate hydrogen under visible-light irradiation, for the first time. After that, g-C3N4 triggered substantial research interest [12][13][14]. Various strategies have been developed to improve the PHP activity of g-C3N4, such as introducing heterojunctions [15][16][17], copolymerization [18][19][20

• edges of the frameworks to delicately tune the bandgaps of conjugated polymers. Among them, three polymers, that is, P2, P3, and P4 (Figure 2), showed suitable bandgaps of ca. 2.2 eV, and conferred HERs of 4.72, 9.15, and 2.90 μmol·h−1 (10 mg), respectively, under visible-light irradiation [46][47]. The

• under visible light [52]. With the extensive studies of nitrogen-rich triazine- and heptazine-based photocatalysts for hydrogen production, pyridine and its derivatives as nitrogen-containing acceptors have attracted great interest again, and D–A architectures for photocatalytic water splitting were

Boosting of photocatalytic hydrogen evolution via chlorine doping of polymeric carbon nitride

• Malgorzata Aleksandrzak,
• Michalina Kijaczko,
• Wojciech Kukulka,
• Daria Baranowska,
• Martyna Baca,
• Beata Zielinska and
• Ewa Mijowska

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 473–484, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.38

• , Poland 10.3762/bjnano.12.38 Abstract Chlorine is found to be a suitable element for the modification of polymeric carbon nitride properties towards an efficient visible-light photocatalytic activity. In this study, chlorine-doped polymeric carbon nitride (Cl-PCN) has been examined as a photocatalyst in

• semiconductor polymer, as a metal-free and visible-light-responsive photocatalyst, has attracted dramatically growing attention in the field of visible-light-induced hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). It is characterized by facile synthesis, easy functionalization, attractive electronic band structure, and

• obtaining a highly efficient HER under visible light conditions [28][29]. One of the most effective methods to modify the electronic structure and improve photocatalytic properties, among so many options, seems to be non-metallic doping [30][31][32][33]. For instance, Ma et al. found that the doping of PCN

Rapid controlled synthesis of gold–platinum nanorods with excellent photothermal properties under 808 nm excitation

• Jialin Wang,
• Qianqian Duan,
• Min Yang,
• Boye Zhang,
• Li Guo,
• Pengcui Li,
• Wendong Zhang and
• Shengbo Sang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 462–472, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.37

• . Most of the reported Au–Pt bimetal nanoparticles are isotropic, such as alloys or core–shell structures [18][19][20]. However, the LSPR peaks of such alloys or core–shell structures are located in the visible light region and inhibit the plasma performance [21]. Significant efforts have been made to

The patterning toolbox FIB-o-mat: Exploiting the full potential of focused helium ions for nanofabrication

• Victor Deinhart,
• Lisa-Marie Kern,
• Jan N. Kirchhof,
• Sabrina Juergensen,
• Joris Sturm,
• Enno Krauss,
• Thorsten Feichtner,
• Sviatoslav Kovalchuk,
• Michael Schneider,
• Dieter Engel,
• Bastian Pfau,
• Bert Hecht,
• Kirill I. Bolotin,
• Stephanie Reich and
• Katja Höflich

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 304–318, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.25

• -crystalline gold constitute an ideal platform for plasmonic applications due to the lack of scattering losses at grain boundaries and surface roughness [56]. In nanostructured gold, collective excitations of the free electron gas may occur under the incidence of visible light [2]. These plasmon polaritons of

• tetramers the subsequent removal of gold using the Ga ion beam leads to slight distortions that were not present before. This is caused by the typical tails in the beam profile of a focused Ga ion beam [19]. Optical investigation was carried out using visible-light spectroscopy in a transmission spatial

Mapping the local dielectric constant of a biological nanostructured system

• Wescley Walison Valeriano,
• Rodrigo Ribeiro Andrade,
• Juan Pablo Vasco,
• Angelo Malachias,
• Bernardo Ruegger Almeida Neves,
• Paulo Sergio Soares Guimarães and
• Wagner Nunes Rodrigues

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 139–150, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.11

• obtained via EFM with the photonic behavior of the wing. The wing has several layers with thicknesses comparable to the wavelengths of visible light. Through refraction and diffraction, which depend on the thicknesses, refractive index, and the number of layers, light of certain wavelengths is reflected

ZnO and MXenes as electrode materials for supercapacitor devices

• Ameen Uddin Ammar,
• Ipek Deniz Yildirim,
• Feray Bakan and
• Emre Erdem

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 49–57, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.4

• -band-edge (NBE) emission [4][5]. Intrinsic point defects reveal a broadband PL emission in the visible-light region. Here, the situation is a little complicated due to the inhomogeneous distribution of this visible-light emission. In general, in the case of defective ZnO, the emission has a maximum in

• becomes more distinct and intense when measuring nanoscale ZnO. It also suppresses the NBE emission [7]. The general approach to identify the defect centers in ZnO via PL, which might also be misleading, is as follows: Of the defect-related PL data in the visible-light range, the broad signal is

• ionized oxygen vacancies located either in volume or at the surface of the material. (b) PL spectra showing all possible defect centers, including non-paramagnetic ones. The defects emit visible light yielding a broad emission band [4]. (c) Tauc plot obtained from UV–vis reflectance measurements

Nanocasting synthesis of BiFeO₃ nanoparticles with enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity

• Thomas Cadenbach,
• Maria J. Benitez,
• A. Lucia Morales,
• Cesar Costa Vera,
• Luis Lascano,
• Francisco Quiroz,
• Alexis Debut and
• Karla Vizuete

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1822–1833, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.164

• wet impregnation process and a calcination procedure with intermediate plateaus, monodisperse 5.5 nm BiFeO3 nanoparticles were successfully obtained. Furthermore, the nanoparticles were applied in photodegradation reactions of rhodamine B in aqueous solution under visible-light irradiation. Notably

• , the cast BiFeO3 nanoparticles demonstrated very high efficiencies and stability under visible-light irradiation, much higher than those of BiFeO3 nanoparticles synthesized by other synthetic methods. The possible mechanism in the photodegradation process has been deeply discussed on the basis of

• applications has been limited due to their relatively large bandgaps along with their susceptibility to the fast recombination of photogenerated electron–hole pairs, leading to inefficient photocatalytic activity under visible-light or solar irradiation [14][15][16][17][18]. Thus, the development of

Absorption and photoconductivity spectra of amorphous multilayer structures

• Oxana Iaseniuc and
• Mihail Iovu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1757–1763, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.158

• the incident visible light to reach the other layers with a bandgap energy of Eg ≈ 2.0 eV [12][13] and with a thicknesses of d ≈ 500 nm for Ge0.09As0.09Se0.82 and d ≈ 1000 nm for As0.40S0.30Se0.30. Figure 2 shows that the amorphous film Ge0.30As0.04S0.66 is highly transparent to incident light in the