Laser synthesis of nanoparticles in organic solvents – products, reactions, and perspectives

• Theo Fromme,
• Sven Reichenberger,
• Katharine M. Tibbetts and
• Stephan Barcikowski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 638–663, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.54

• and benzene, both prone to polymerization reactions and coke formation, showed the largest hydrogen production, while cyclohexane and cyclohexene released the lowest amount of hydrogen compared to other C6 solvents. Interestingly, ablation in n-pentane produced the least amount of hydrogen of all

Titania nanoparticles for photocatalytic degradation of ethanol under simulated solar light

• Evghenii Goncearenco,
• Iuliana P. Morjan,
• Claudiu Teodor Fleaca,
• Florian Dumitrache,
• Elena Dutu,
• Monica Scarisoreanu,
• Valentin Serban Teodorescu,
• Alexandra Sandulescu,
• Crina Anastasescu and
• Ioan Balint

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 616–630, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.51

• ][18]. Moreover, investigations have shown the possibility for applying TiO2 in hydrogen production by water decomposition [19][20][21][22][23]. Given the TiO2 bandgap, it is considered a low-efficiency material in photodriven water splitting, because only 3% of the solar light can be used. Different

• many studies carried out in gas and liquid phases concerning the photodegradation of ethanol through TiO2-based materials, targeting both hydrogen production [25][26] and the photocatalytic oxidation of ethanol to CO2 [27][28]. Hydrogen production and depollution via ethanol photodegradation are of

• use and further modification regarding H2 production. Table 4 shows an increase of acetaldehyde formation for the catalyst series “b” relative to series “a”, especially for TO-850-b. This observation is in line with the highest hydrogen production obtained by using this catalyst. Conclusion This study

A TiO₂@MWCNTs nanocomposite photoanode for solar-driven water splitting

• Anh Quynh Huu Le,
• Ngoc Nhu Thi Nguyen,
• Hai Duy Tran,
• Van-Huy Nguyen and
• Le-Hai Tran

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1520–1530, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.125

•  10b shows the hydrogen production and the average light intensity as a function of the time of the day from 6:00 AM to 5:00 PM. In Figure 10b, the sunlight illuminance peaks from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM correlate with the highest hydrogen production of the TiO2@MWCNTs electrode. The TiO2 electrode

• exhibits poor hydrogen production under sunlight irradiation. It could be explained by the 3.14 eV optical band gap of TiO2, which absorbs only UV light. In addition, the fast recombination of the photogenerated (h+/e−) pairs contributes to the poor photochemical catalysis activity of the TiO2 electrode

• than 100 klux solar allows the photoelectrochemical electrode to generate H2 at the highest rates. The STH conversion efficiency is the ratio between the hydrogen production rate and the solar energy input [10][11]. Assuming a mean illuminance of the solar irradiation of 88.9% [48], the average STH

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 monitoring, disinfection, and sterilization are all areas where the photocatalytic breakdown of contaminants is used. Primary energy uses included photocatalytic hydrogen production from carbon dioxide, conversion of carbon dioxide to specific molecular organic matter, and nitrogen fixation [1

• mol·h−1·cm−2, and after four cycles with the same parameters, there was no noticeable decrease in the hydrogen production

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

• precursor for VOCs combustion [32], hydrogen production from ethanol [33], hydrocarbon fuels production from CO2 and H2O [34], syngas production from dry reforming [35], steam reforming of methane [36], or combined reforming of methane with CO2 and O2 [37]. Meanwhile, LaNiO3 photocatalysts also played an

Low-energy electron interaction and focused electron beam-induced deposition of molybdenum hexacarbonyl (Mo(CO)₆)

• Po-Yuan Shih,
• Maicol Cipriani,
• Christian Felix Hermanns,
• Jens Oster,
• Klaus Edinger,
• Armin Gölzhäuser and
• Oddur Ingólfsson

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 182–191, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.13

• ; dissociative ionisation; focused electron beam-induced deposition; molybdenum hexacarbonyl; Introduction Studies on Mo-based semiconductor materials for the application as thin films with wafer-scale thickness homogeneity [1] and for solar hydrogen production [2] have attracted interest in the last years. For

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

• units. The challenges and prospects associated with D–A polymer-based photocatalysts are described as well. Keywords: π-conjugated polymeric photocatalysts; donor–acceptor junctions; nanostructure semiconductors; photocatalytic hydrogen production; Introduction To date, fossil fuels still are the

• , fossil fuels are limited and will be depleted. Regarding clean and sustainable energy resources, in particular solar energy has become a candidate to eventually replace fossil fuels. Among the various strategies, hydrogen production by photocatalytic water splitting is emerging as a promising approach

• and Honda [4] reported the first example of hydrogen production by photocatalytic water splitting in 1972, using TiO2 as the photocatalyst under ultraviolet-light irradiation. Since then, numerous semiconductors have been explored for photocatalytic hydrogen production (PHP) by water splitting, which

Unravelling the interfacial interaction in mesoporous SiO₂@nickel phyllosilicate/TiO₂ core–shell nanostructures for photocatalytic activity

• Bridget K. Mutuma,
• Xiluva Mathebula,
• Isaac Nongwe,
• Bonakele P. Mtolo,
• Boitumelo J. Matsoso,
• Rudolph Erasmus,
• Zikhona Tetana and
• Neil J. Coville

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1834–1846, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.165

• NiPS with a sheet-like morphology, which was then used as a catalyst for the hydrogenation of styrene. More recently, Ghiat et al. [39] reported on the photocatalytic properties of nickel phyllosilicates for hydrogen production. Their nickel phyllosilicate, displaying a surface area of 95 m2·g−1, was

Kelvin probe force microscopy work function characterization of transition metal oxide crystals under ongoing reduction and oxidation

• Dominik Wrana,
• Karol Cieślik,
• Wojciech Belza,
• Christian Rodenbücher,
• Krzysztof Szot and
• Franciszek Krok

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1596–1607, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.155

• [1], hydrogen production [2], resistive switching [3] and organic electronics [4][5] to so-called thermoelectric power generators [6]. The performance of all of the abovementioned applications is extremely sensitive to the work function (WF) of the active oxide layer. As a vast majority of

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

• semiconductors such as ZnO are increasingly investigated for processes concerning environmental remediation, antibacterial activity and chemical technologies for hydrogen production and synthesis of organic compounds [22]. Anyway, according to WoS, in the given period TiO2 NPs appear to be cited ten times more

• revealed by TEM (Figure 5A), leads to efficient nanostructured materials for the photocatalytic production of hydrogen tested in methanol photoreforming. Herein, montmorillonite-based nanoarchitectures are less efficient as hydrogen production catalyst than nanoarchitectures derived from sepiolite. Higher

• rates of hydrogen production are obtained with the Pt-doped TiO2@sepiolite nanoarchitectures obtained by photodeposition (Figure 5B). Photocatalysts based on Ag-doped ZnO@montmorillonite reported by Sohrabnezhad and Seifi [144] are another example for the enhancement of photocatalytic activity through

Synthesis of novel C-doped g-C₃N₄ nanosheets coupled with CdIn₂S₄ for enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

• Jingshuai Chen,
• Chang-Jie Mao,
• Helin Niu and
• Ji-Ming Song

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 912–921, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.92

• metal-free organic catalysts with visible-light response, has been extensively used in pollutant elimination, hydrogen production and photoreduction of CO2 because of its facile fabrication, superior physicochemical stability, appropriate energy band structure, and low cost [7][8][9]. Nevertheless, the

Thickness-dependent photoelectrochemical properties of a semitransparent Co₃O₄ photocathode

• Malkeshkumar Patel and
• Joondong Kim

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2432–2442, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.228

• University, 119 Academy Rd. Yeonsu, Incheon, 22012, Republic of Korea 10.3762/bjnano.9.228 Abstract Co3O4 has been widely studied as a catalyst when coupled with a photoactive material during hydrogen production using water splitting. Here, we demonstrate a photoactive spinel Co3O4 electrode grown by the

• -dependent properties; Introduction Hydrogen production using water splitting in photoelectrochemical (PEC) cells may help to overcome challenges in the conversion and storage of solar energy. Most of the metal oxides are earth-abundant, non-toxic, stable and easy to synthesise, and hence attractive

Improving the catalytic activity for hydrogen evolution of monolayered SnSe_2(1−x)S_2x by mechanical strain

• Sha Dong and
• Zhiguo Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1820–1827, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.173

• Sha Dong Zhiguo Wang School of Electronics Science and Engineering, Center for Public Security Technology Research, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 610054, P.R. China 10.3762/bjnano.9.173 Abstract Exploring efficient electrocatalysts for hydrogen production with

• ; however, the high cost and limited resources of these types of catalyst restrict their usage in the mass production of hydrogen [8][9][10]. Therefore, exploring non-noble and earth-abundant elements as catalysts for hydrogen production is one of the most promising pathways for the mass production of

A review of carbon-based and non-carbon-based catalyst supports for the selective catalytic reduction of nitric oxide

• Shahreen Binti Izwan Anthonysamy,
• Syahidah Binti Afandi,
• Mehrnoush Khavarian and
• Abdul Rahman Bin Mohamed

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 740–761, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.68

• as one of the most promising catalytic materials for SCR at low temperature due to the unique promoting effect of SO2. Wu et al. [61] introduced the idea of implementing CNTs, a by-product obtained from the prior hydrogen production, as supports for the V2O5–WO3 catalyst. In their study, the

Review on optofluidic microreactors for artificial photosynthesis

• Xiaowen Huang,
• Jianchun Wang,
• Tenghao Li,
• Jianmei Wang,
• Min Xu,
• Weixing Yu,
• Abdel El Abed and
• Xuming Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 30–41, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.5

• water into hydrogen and oxygen. Some studies have focused on only the half-reaction for water splitting, while ignoring the other half-reaction for oxygen production. This is often called photocatalytic hydrogen production (or generation) and can be regarded as a low-configured version of photocatalytic

• and better hydrogen production rate than the conventional ones. CO2 reduction Optofluidic microreactors have been firstly applied for water purification [50], water splitting [73], photocatalytic fuel cells [75] and then CO2 reduction [76]. Chen et al. combined the optofluidics with the TiO2/carbon

Evaluating the toxicity of TiO₂-based nanoparticles to Chinese hamster ovary cells and Escherichia coli: a complementary experimental and computational approach

• Alicja Mikolajczyk,
• Natalia Sizochenko,
• Ewa Mulkiewicz,
• Anna Malankowska,
• Michal Nischk,
• Przemyslaw Jurczak,
• Seishiro Hirano,
• Grzegorz Nowaczyk,
• Adriana Zaleska-Medynska,
• Jerzy Leszczynski,
• Agnieszka Gajewicz and
• Tomasz Puzyn

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2171–2180, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.216

• alters the rate of chemical reactions, when exposed to light (photocatalyst) [1]. TiO2-based NPs have already found wide applications as efficient photocatalysts for sterilization, sanitation, air and water purification systems, hydrogen production by water splitting, and dye-sensitized solar cells [1

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

• nature in the form of water, its production from water using solar energy is therefore an area of immense interest for researchers because of its potential to fulfil the global energy demand and related environmental issues [5]. For the first time, photoelectrochemical (PEC) hydrogen production was

• achieved in 1972 by Fujishima and Honda on a TiO2 anode and Pt cathode under ultraviolet (UV) light irradiation [6]. After this, research interest in exploring semiconductors for hydrogen production has grown significantly and many research groups have focussed their studies in this direction [7][8][9][10

• attracted much attention in this field. In order to efficiently utilize the solar energy, many photoelectrochemical cells have been developed for hydrogen production [100][101]. Basically, in the process of photocatalytic water splitting, photons with energy greater than the band gap energy of the chosen

Growth, structure and stability of sputter-deposited MoS₂ thin films

• Reinhard Kaindl,
• Bernhard C. Bayer,
• Roland Resel,
• Thomas Müller,
• Viera Skakalova,
• Gerlinde Habler,
• Rainer Abart,
• Alexey S. Cherevan,
• Dominik Eder,
• Maxime Blatter,
• Fabian Fischer,
• Jannik C. Meyer,
• Dmitry K. Polyushkin and
• Wolfgang Waldhauser

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1115–1126, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.113

• HER performance for hydrogen production [18]. Intercalation and adsorption of species was also shown to lead to metallic 1T phase regions in semiconducting 2H MoS2 [48]. If a large enough fraction of 1T structure is formed in a semiconducting 2H film this could lead to a metallic percolation network

Palladium nanoparticles anchored to anatase TiO₂ for enhanced surface plasmon resonance-stimulated, visible-light-driven photocatalytic activity

• Kah Hon Leong,
• Hong Ye Chu,
• Shaliza Ibrahim and
• Pichiah Saravanan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 428–437, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.43

• compare to TiO2 nanotubes (250 min) [28]. Similarly, Kwak et al. found that by incorporating Pd into TiO2 led to an improved hydrogen production compared to pure TiO2 [29]. Hence, it is clear that the inclusion of noble metals either as dopant or composite contributes to an enhanced visible-light

Enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen evolution by combining water soluble graphene with cobalt salts

• Jing Wang,
• Ke Feng,
• Hui-Hui Zhang,
• Bin Chen,
• Zhi-Jun Li,
• Qing-Yuan Meng,
• Li-Ping Zhang,
• Chen-Ho Tung and
• Li-Zhu Wu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1167–1174, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.128

• ][27][28][29][30][31][32][33]. Specifically, graphene has been involved in photocatalytic hydrogen production systems [34], such as TiO2-(N)RGO-Pt [35][36][37][38], g-C3N4-RGO-Pt [39], CdS-RGO-Pt [40][41][42][43], MoS2-NRGO [44][45], EY-RGO-Pt [46] and BiVO4-RGO-Ru/SrTiO3:Rh [47] (RGO: reduced graphene

Functionalized nanostructures for enhanced photocatalytic performance under solar light

• Liejin Guo,
• Dengwei Jing,
• Maochang Liu,
• Yubin Chen,
• Shaohua Shen,
• Jinwen Shi and
• Kai Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 994–1004, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.113

• ][2][3][4]. Photocatalytic hydrogen production from water by using solar energy is one of the most acceptable routes for this aim, since only abundant water and solar energy are needed for hydrogen production in the process. If the economic viability for industrial application is successfully

• satisfied, it will ultimately solve the energy and environmental problems [5][6]. Since the first report by Fujishima and Honda in 1972 [7], hydrogen production from water over semiconducting powders or films by using solar energy has been extensively studied. Thermodynamically, the reaction of producing

• (corresponding to an absorption threshold larger than 420 nm). Efficient utilization of these huge amounts of "low energy" photons is crucial to the realization of commercial solar photocatalytic hydrogen production. To this end, band engineering is necessary to design semiconductor photocatalysts with

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

• visible-light-driven photocatalysis [35][36]. Very recently, the combination of GQDs with CdS-modified TNAs was reported for photoelectrochemical hydrogen production. However, GQDs did not enhance the activity of bare TNAs in the study [37]. GQDs have also been chemically coupled with ZnO nanowires for

High activity of Ag-doped Cd_0.1Zn_0.9S photocatalyst prepared by the hydrothermal method for hydrogen production under visible-light irradiation

• Leny Yuliati,
• Melody Kimi and
• Mustaffa Shamsuddin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 587–595, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.69

• activity of Cd0.1Zn0.9S was studied for the hydrogen production from water reduction under visible light irradiation. Results: Compared to the series prepared by the co-precipitation method, samples prepared by the hydrothermal method performed with a better photocatalytic activity. The sample with the

• optimum amount of Ag doping showed the highest hydrogen production rate of 3.91 mmol/h, which was 1.7 times higher than that of undoped Cd0.1Zn0.9S. With the Ag doping, a red shift in the optical response was observed, leading to a larger portion of the visible light absorption than that of without doping

• Cd0.1Zn0.9S photocatalyst. Keywords: Ag doping; Cd0.1Zn0.9S; hydrogen production; hydrothermal; visible light; Introduction The development of clean and renewable hydrogen energy through a sustainable production process is still a big issue to be addressed. Solar energy is a very attractive option as it is

Preparation of NiS/ZnIn₂S₄ as a superior photocatalyst for hydrogen evolution under visible light irradiation

• Liang Wei,
• Yongjuan Chen,
• Jialin Zhao and
• Zhaohui Li

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 949–955, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.107

• electrodes for water splitting by Fujishima and Honda in 1972, great efforts have been devoted to the development of highly efficient semiconductor photocatalysts for hydrogen production [4]. So far, a variety of active photocatalysts for hydrogen production, including metal oxides [5][6][7][8], sulfides [9