Role of RGO support and irradiation source on the photocatalytic activity of CdS–ZnO semiconductor nanostructures

• Suneel Kumar,
• Rahul Sharma,
• Vipul Sharma,
• Gurunarayanan Harith,
• Vaidyanathan Sivakumar and
• Venkata Krishnan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1684–1697, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.161

• nanostructures. Keywords: catalytic properties; chemical synthesis; nanostructures; semiconductors; transmission electron microscopy (TEM); Introduction In the past decade, there has been an increased interest in the photocatalytic degradation of various kinds of organic pollutants in water and soil [1]. Many

• photocatalytic decomposition of organic pollutants [4][5][6][7][8]. These semiconductor photocatalysts not only degrade the contaminants, but also cause their complete mineralization into CO2, H2O and mineral acids [9][10]. Thus, it is advantageous over physico-chemical methods such as flocculation–coagulation

• degradation of organic pollutants [32][33][34][35]. In one of our recent works [34], we have reported the synergistic effect of MoS2–RGO support to improve the photocatalytic performance of ZnO nanoparticles. However, the role played by RGO support in enhancing the photocatalytic performance of the

An efficient recyclable magnetic material for the selective removal of organic pollutants

• Clément Monteil,
• Nathalie Bar,
• Agnès Bee and
• Didier Villemin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1447–1453, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.136

• Wastewater cleaning strategies based on the adsorption of materials are being increasingly considered, but the wide variety of organic pollutants at low concentrations still makes their removal a challenge. The hybrid material proposed here consists of a zwitterionic polyethylenimine polymer coating a

• harsh conditions. Keywords: adsorption; magnetic nanoparticles; organic pollutants; phosphonated polyethylenimine; Introduction During the last decades, an increased emphasis was placed on the issue of diffuse contamination of water. Toxic metals and organic pollutants are significant sources of

• advantage for adsorption of organic pollutants. By adjusting the percentage of phosphonation, the pH value and the decontamination time, performances similar to active charcoal are obtained, but with a highly selective adsorption of cationic and anionic contaminants. This recyclable material obtained by an

Impact of ultrasonic dispersion on the photocatalytic activity of titania aggregates

• Hoai Nga Le,
• Frank Babick,
• Klaus Kühn,
• Minh Tan Nguyen,
• Michael Stintz and
• Gianaurelio Cuniberti

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 2423–2430, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.250

• oxidation, discoloration, mineralization, and degradation of organic pollutants [1][2]. Photocatalysis is an example of an AOP that has been effectively applied for the treatment of highly polluted water such as dye sewage [3][4]. Among the materials for this application, titanium dioxide (TiO2) is a very

Nanomanipulation and environmental nanotechnology

• Enrico Gnecco,
• Andre Schirmeisen,
• Carlos M. Pina and
• Udo Becker

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2079–2080, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.216

• examples in which nanotechnologies are used to study or potentially solve environmental problems. For example, organic pollutants can be successfully removed from wastewater using the unique catalytic properties of pyrite nanoparticles. Adhesion of marine bacteria can be prevented by new coating materials

Pyrite nanoparticles as a Fenton-like reagent for in situ remediation of organic pollutants

• Carolina Gil-Lozano,
• Elisabeth Losa-Adams,
• Alfonso F.-Dávila and
• Luis Gago-Duport

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 855–864, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.97

• hydroxyl radicals (OH•) that trigger the formation of other reactive intermediates (e.g., HO2• and O2•−). Due to their high oxidation potential (E0 = 2.8 V), hydroxyl radicals attack most organic pollutants with rate constants in the order of 106 to 109 M−1·s−1 [4][5]. In practice, the formation of OH• to

• abundant iron sulfide in the crust of Earth, releases Fe2+ and H+ upon oxidative dissolution. As such, it has been used with H2O2 as a Fenton catalyst for the degradation of several organic pollutants, including trinitrotoluene, carbon tetrachloride and diclofenac [16][17][18][19]. Several recent studies

Nanostructure sensitization of transition metal oxides for visible-light photocatalysis

• Hongjun Chen and
• Lianzhou Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 696–710, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.82

• for the conversion of solar energy into chemical fuel, electricity, the decomposition of organic pollutants etc. All of these photocatalytic reactions occur on the surface of semiconductors. Basically, the photocatalytic process can be mainly divided into three pathways [1][2][3], as shown in Figure 1

• visible light photocatalysis which is important for the photo-degradation of organic pollutants and the splitting of water for the production of H2 fuel. In this section, we mainly focus on the different nanostructures like quantum dots, plasmonic metal nanostructures, and carbon-based nanostructures used

A visible-light-driven composite photocatalyst of TiO₂ nanotube arrays and graphene quantum dots

• Donald K. L. Chan,
• Po Ling Cheung and
• Jimmy C. Yu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 689–695, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.81

• light irradiation. Keywords: anodic oxidation; graphene quantum dots; photocatalyst; photodegradation; TiO2 nanotube arrays; Introduction Semiconductor-mediated photocatalysis is a promising technique for the conversion of solar energy as well as degradation of organic pollutants in air and water [1

Effects of the preparation method on the structure and the visible-light photocatalytic activity of Ag₂CrO₄

• Difa Xu,
• Shaowen Cao,
• Jinfeng Zhang,
• Bei Cheng and
• Jiaguo Yu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 658–666, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.77

• Ag2CrO4 toward the degradation of other organic pollutants under visible-light irradiation. Experimental Preparation of Ag2CrO4 photocatalysts All chemicals were analytical grade and used without further purification. Deionized (DI) water was used in all experiments. The Ag2CrO4 photocatalysts were

Mesoporous cerium oxide nanospheres for the visible-light driven photocatalytic degradation of dyes

• Subas K. Muduli,
• Songling Wang,
• Shi Chen,
• Chin Fan Ng,
• Cheng Hon Alfred Huan,
• Tze Chien Sum and
• Han Sen Soo

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 517–523, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.60

• , suggesting that the mechanism of photocatalytic activity under visible-light irradiation involves predominantly hydroxyl radicals as the active species. Keywords: cerium oxide; dye degradation; mesoporous; photocatalysis; visible light; Introduction The degradation of organic pollutants by affordable and

• ambient conditions and react with water and air to form reactive oxygen species such as •OH, •OOH, H2O2, and O2− for example [1][2][4][5][6]. These reactive oxygen species can subsequently decompose organic pollutants. Recent developments in nanotechnology have enhanced the performance of photocatalytic

Structural, optical and photocatalytic properties of flower-like ZnO nanostructures prepared by a facile wet chemical method

• Sini Kuriakose,
• Neha Bhardwaj,
• Jaspal Singh,
• Biswarup Satpati and
• Satyabrata Mohapatra

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 763–770, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.87

• these toxic chemicals. Photocatalytic degradation, in which the organic pollutants are degraded through photocatalytic oxidation and reduction reactions in the presence of a photocatalyst, is one of the most promising and clean processes used for water purification. Nanostructured semiconductor

• photocatalysts such as ZnO and TiO2 have attracted significant attention in recent years because of their wide-spread application in environmental remediation [1][2]. These photocatalysts have a high efficiency for the degradation of toxic organic pollutants that originate from the effluents of textile and