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

• , and UV–vis DRS were used to investigate the morphology and optical properties of the as-prepared AgI/Ag2WO4 catalyst. With AgI acting as the cocatalyst, the resulting AgI/Ag2WO4 heterostructure shows excellent performance in degrading toxic, stable pollutants such as rhodamine B (RhB), methyl orange

• photocatalytic performance. Keywords: AgI/Ag2WO4; nanocomposites; photocatalysis; visible light; Introduction The development of high-performance novel photocatalysts for the degradation of pollutants has received great interest due to the worsening of environmental pollution [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11

• Ag2S/Ag2WO4 [40], C3N4/Ag2WO4 [39], Bi2MoO6/Ag2WO4/Ag [42] etc., have been reported to show improved VLD performance in the degradation of pollutants. To the best of our knowledge, application of AgI/Ag2WO4 as a VLD photocatalyst for the degradation of toxic pollutants remains unreported. In this study

Electrodeposition of reduced graphene oxide with chitosan based on the coordination deposition method

• Mingyang Liu,
• Yanjun Chen,
• Chaoran Qin,
• Zheng Zhang,
• Shuai Ma,
• Xiuru Cai,
• Xueqian Li and
• Yifeng Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1200–1210, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.111

• electrochemical detection of glucose, NH3 gas, NO2 gas, ethanol and acetone [40][41][42][43]. Besides, graphene-based sensors have been used to detect phenolic compounds which are aromatic pollutants to the environment and human health [44][45]. These graphene-based sensors exhibit the high detection performance

Review on nanoparticles and nanostructured materials: history, sources, toxicity and regulations

• Jaison Jeevanandam,
• Ahmed Barhoum,
• Yen S. Chan,
• Alain Dufresne and
• Michael K. Danquah

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1050–1074, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.98

• satellite images revealed that dust storms in one region can migrate the nano and micro-sized minerals and anthropogenic pollutants to thousands of kilometers away from their origin. About 50% of the atmospheric aerosol particles that originate from dust storms in deserts are in the range of 100–200 nm [46

• -mediated natural precipitation. It has been reported that formation of CaCO3 NPs in Lake Michigan is due to weather and temperature changes [81]. These small sea salt aerosols act to transfer microorganisms and pollutants that may increase casualties in plants, animals, and humans via adverse health

• their weightless wing material [220][221][222]. Insect wing surfaces demonstrate a rough and highly ordered structure comprised of micro- and nanoscale properties to minimize their mass and protect them against wetting and pollutants. A methodical terminology to explain the structural properties of

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

Perovskite-structured CaTiO₃ coupled with g-C₃N₄ as a heterojunction photocatalyst for organic pollutant degradation

• Ashish Kumar,
• Christian Schuerings,
• Suneel Kumar,
• Ajay Kumar and
• Venkata Krishnan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 671–685, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.62

• overall photocatalytic activity. Furthermore, the active species trapping experiments validate the major role played by superoxide radicals (O2−•) in the degradation of pollutants. Based on scavenger studies and theoretically calculated band positions, a plausible mechanism for the photocatalytic

• degradation of pollutants has been proposed and discussed. Keywords: CaTiO3; graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4); heterojunction photocatalyst; pollutant degradation; Introduction Photocatalysis is recognized as an attractive approach for environmental remediation and energy generation applications due to its

• pollutants from water very effectively. Experimental Materials Both titanium diisopropoxide bis(acetylacetonate) and dicyandiamide were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich, India. Calcium nitrate (Ca(NO3)2·4H2O), acrylamide and D-glucose were supplied by MP Biomedicals, India. Ammonia solution (NH3 about 25

Mechanistic insights into plasmonic photocatalysts in utilizing visible light

• Kah Hon Leong,
• Azrina Abd Aziz,
• Lan Ching Sim,
• Pichiah Saravanan,
• Min Jang and
• Detlef Bahnemann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 628–648, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.59

• strengths and weaknesses, and the interaction of the plasmonic photocatalyst with pollutants as well as the role of active radical generation and identification. The review ends with a pinnacle insight into future perspectives regarding realistic applications of plasmonic photocatalysts. Keywords

• the formation and identification of ROSs and their interaction with pollutants was clearly presented. The future prospects of these sustainable photocatalysts with real-time applications for energy storage and environmental remediation were thoroughly reviewed. The present review also revealed the

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

• 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

Influence of the preparation method on the photocatalytic activity of Nd-modified TiO₂

• Patrycja Parnicka,
• Paweł Mazierski,
• Tomasz Grzyb,
• Wojciech Lisowski,
• Ewa Kowalska,
• Bunsho Ohtani,
• Adriana Zaleska-Medynska and
• Joanna Nadolna

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 447–459, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.43

• pristine and Nd-modified TiO2 were investigated using the photocatalytic degradations of phenol in aqueous solution and of gaseous toluene. Kinetics and degradation rate of model pollutants are presented in Figure 7 and Table 4. The photodegradation of phenol was performed in aqueous solution under UV–vis

• . Based on XPS analysis, it can be seen that photocatalysts prepared via the HT method had a higher amount of hydroxy groups on the surface than those obtained by the SHT method. The hydroxy groups can act as adsorption centres on which the degradation of pollutants takes place [45]. Moreover, a high

• main active species responsible for the degradation of the model pollutants. In the presence of HT photocatalyst with scavengers similar phenomena were observed. The photocatalytic system with added ammonium oxalate and tert-butanol showed congruous degradation rates (0.58 and 0.57 μmol·dm−1·min−1

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

• correlates well with the lowest PL intensity, highest photocurrent and lowest particle size. Keywords: Congo red; electrochemical study; phenol; photocatalyst; rhodamine B (Rh B); ZnFe2O4; Introduction Photocatalysis is a “green” technology for the treatment of environmental pollutants with solar energy [1

• 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

Photocatalytic and adsorption properties of TiO₂-pillared montmorillonite obtained by hydrothermally activated intercalation of titanium polyhydroxo complexes

• Mikhail F. Butman,
• Nikolay L. Ovchinnikov,
• Nikita S. Karasev,
• Nataliya E. Kochkina,
• Alexander V. Agafonov and
• Alexandr V. Vinogradov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 364–378, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.36

• limitations such as low adsorption capacity and possibility of particle agglomeration, which reduce its photocatalytic efficiency for the processes of purifying sewage and natural water bodies from pollutants of organic origin. To overcome these limitations, titanium dioxide nanoparticles are distributed on

Sugarcane juice derived carbon dot–graphitic carbon nitride composites for bisphenol A degradation under sunlight irradiation

• Lan Ching Sim,
• Jing Lin Wong,
• Chen Hong Hak,
• Jun Yan Tai,
• Kah Hon Leong and
• Pichiah Saravanan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 353–363, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.35

• [26][27], and degradation of pollutants [28][29][30]. However, the photocatalytic performance of bulk g-C3N4 remains unsatisfactory because of the fast recombination rate of electron pairs and narrower light absorption range over the entire solar spectrum. Turning g-C3N4 into a mesoporous nanorod

• easily excited in each of the CDs and g-C3N4 to produce more electron–hole pairs for the reaction of pollutants. The recombination rate of electron–hole pairs was another factor affecting the degradation rate. As shown in the PL analysis (Figure 3d), the separation efficiency of electron–hole pairs will

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

• . Keywords: Ag@AgSCN; degradation of oxytetracycline; plasmonic photocatalyst; stability; Introduction In the past decade, water decontamination technology has attracted great attention due to the increasing health risk that water contamination poses to humankind. The removal of pollutants has been

• 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

L-Lysine-grafted graphene oxide as an effective adsorbent for the removal of methylene blue and metal ions

• Yan Yan,
• Jie Li,
• Fangbei Kong,
• Kuankuan Jia,
• Shiyu He and
• Baorong Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2680–2688, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.268

• promising adsorption material for the removal of environmental pollutants. Keywords: adsorption; copper (Cu) ions; graphene; isotherms; methylene blue; Introduction Graphene is a two-dimensional carbon material with honeycomb network and sp2 hybridization. Recently, graphene-based materials have drawn

• organic molecules and metal nanoparticles via covalent or non-covalent binding [13][14][15][16]. Recently, functionalized graphene materials have shown great potential as highly efficient absorbers for the treatment of environmental pollutants and wastewater purification [17][18][19]. However, most of the

• functionalized graphene materials cannot meet practical needs in treating environmental pollutants because of high cost and low performance. Hence, the adsorption performance of graphene-based materials still needs to be improved and the cost lowered. Some reports showed that oxygen functional groups, vacancy

Fabrication of CeO₂–MO_x (M = Cu, Co, Ni) composite yolk–shell nanospheres with enhanced catalytic properties for CO oxidation

• Ling Liu,
• Jingjing Shi,
• Hongxia Cao,
• Ruiyu Wang and
• Ziwu Liu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2425–2437, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.241

• (CeO2) has attracted a great deal of research attention due to its high oxygen storage capacity (OSC) and good redox properties [1][2][3]. Because of these unique characteristics, CeO2 has been widely used as environmental catalysts for the removal of harmful pollutants from exhaust gases, such as

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

Functional materials for environmental sensors and energy systems

• Michele Penza,
• Anita Lloyd Spetz,
• Albert Romano-Rodriguez and
• Meyya Meyyappan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2015–2016, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.201

• sensing and energy applications, carbon-based materials for chemical sensing and energy applications, piezoelectric and thermoelectric materials for energy harvesting applications, new nanotechnology-based sensors for monitoring gaseous and liquid pollutants, surface-sensitive spectroscopy for studying

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

Methionine-mediated synthesis of magnetic nanoparticles and functionalization with gold quantum dots for theranostic applications

• Arūnas Jagminas,
• Agnė Mikalauskaitė,
• Vitalijus Karabanovas and
• Jūrate Vaičiūnienė

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1734–1741, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.174

• application of Fe3O4@Met NPs for the adsorption of water pollutants. In this study, we report a novel synthesis protocol for superparamagnetic cobalt ferrite NPs capped with a biocompatible methionine shell (CoFe2O4@Met), which in turn is capable to reduce and attach the gold species. In this way, hybrid

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

• clean water sources all over the world. This demand has been continuously increasing due to the inevitable discharge of pollutants into the natural water cycle from various pharmaceutical and food industries [3]. Hence, there is an urgent need to develop green (ecologically-friendly), sustainable and

• technologically promising approaches to generate clean energy as well as to completely degrade pollutants into CO2 and H2O. Hydrogen seems to be a promising solution as a sustainable, clean and renewable energy source to overcome this energy crisis [4]. Hydrogen is mainly present in fossil fuels, such as natural

• 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

Nanostructures for sensors, electronics, energy and environment III

• Nunzio Motta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1530–1531, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.154

• ., silicene, phosphorene, transition metal dichalcogenides, MXenes), which now number more than 6,000. The topic of nanoparticles is the focus of this Thematic Series, the use of which spans from biosensing to gas detection and from removing pollutants from water to new generations of solar cells. The

Enhanced catalytic activity without the use of an external light source using microwave-synthesized CuO nanopetals

• Govinda Lakhotiya,
• Sonal Bajaj,
• Arpan Kumar Nayak,
• Debabrata Pradhan,
• Pradip Tekade and
• Abhimanyu Rana

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1167–1173, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.118

• conditions is also illustrated. Keywords: CuO nanopetals; dark catalytic activity; fast degradation of dyes; microwave synthesis; Introduction Controlling air quality and water pollutants is a big challenge for environmental research [1]. Particularly, efforts have been taken to control these pollutants

• with the development of cost effective and ecologically friendly methods [2]. Metal oxides have attracted significant attention as a photocatalyst for the degradation of these pollutants [3][4][5][6]. Copper oxide (CuO) is one of the most efficient materials for the oxidation of the air pollutant

• enhance the photoconductive and photochemical properties in various energy applications [7]. Being inexpensive, nontoxic, and readily available, CuO has attracted particular attention. However, in the degradation of water pollutants (e.g., industrial dyes) as a photocatalytic oxidative species, CuO is

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

• composites prepared for the photocatalytic degradation of pollutants require a relatively large quantity of CIS nanocrystals to be complete (20 wt % CIS QDs relative to ZnO) [34][37]. When the ZCIS/ZnO weight ratio was decreased to ≈7%, the photodegradation never exceeded 80% even using a light source

• 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

CVD transfer-free graphene for sensing applications

• Chiara Schiattarella,
• Sten Vollebregt,
• Tiziana Polichetti,
• Brigida Alfano,
• Ettore Massera,
• Maria Lucia Miglietta,
• Girolamo Di Francia and
• Pasqualina Maria Sarro

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1015–1022, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.102

• techniques, following a completely Si-technology-compatible approach. Chemiresistive devices have been realized by shaping the sensing layer in form of rectangular strips. In order to probe the gas-sensing capabilities of the fabricated devices, three standard pollutants have been chosen, namely NO2, NH3 and

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

• complex formation can be dangerous because of the ability of nanoparticles like fullerenes to penetrate biological barriers and act as a vector, transferring dioxins or other pollutants inside the cells [22]. The potential applications of C60 as smoke filters or air-cleaning agents are examples where it

• ) 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