Emerging strategies in the sustainable removal of antibiotics using semiconductor-based photocatalysts

• Yunus Ahmed,
• Keya Rani Dutta,
• Parul Akhtar,
• Md. Arif Hossen,
• Md. Jahangir Alam,
• Obaid A. Alharbi,
• Hamad AlMohamadi and
• Abdul Wahab Mohammad

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 264–285, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.21

• that of pure TiO2 and Fe2O3 under visible light illumination (500 W halogen lamp and wavelengths above 400 nm) [72]. At a dosage of 0.012 g/L of α-Fe2O3@TiO2 and pH 4.76, 98.8% of an initial CFX concentration of 20.5 mg/L was effectively removed after 103 min. The heterojunction formed between TiO2 and

• /GO/CoFe2O, ZnFe2O4/BiVO4/g-C3N4 and BiVO4@BiOCl (see below in Table 3). A novel heterostructure of BiVO4 nanosheets and MoS2 nanoflakes yielded 97.46% degradation of TC within 90 min of visible light illumination with 40 mg/L initial concentration of TC and 15 mg/L catalyst loading [96]. Surprisingly

Intermixing of MoS₂ and WS₂ photocatalysts toward methylene blue photodegradation

• Maryam Al Qaydi,
• Nitul S. Rajput,
• Michael Lejeune,
• Abdellatif Bouchalkha,
• Mimoun El Marssi,
• Steevy Cordette,
• Chaouki Kasmi and
• Mustapha Jouiad

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 817–829, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.68

• evaluated the PD of the MB dye solution under light excitation without any photocatalysts (MB photolysis) as well as its PD in the dark in the presence of a photocatalyst. The optical absorbance spectra of the MB solution in the presence of MoS2 and WS2 were recorded in the dark and under visible light

• illumination at variable exposure durations. The result is displayed in Figure 6a and Figure 6b, respectively. Our findings conform with negligible PD of MB in the absence of light, as observed for both samples 30 min before PD experiments. This minimal MB concentration change recorded in the dark is likely

A visible-light photodetector based on heterojunctions between CuO nanoparticles and ZnO nanorods

• Doan Nhat Giang,
• Nhat Minh Nguyen,
• Duc Anh Ngo,
• Thanh Trang Tran,
• Le Thai Duy,
• Cong Khanh Tran,
• Thi Thanh Van Tran,
• Phan Phuong Ha La and
• Vinh Quang Dang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 1018–1027, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.84

• device. The photocurrent can be calculated by the formula [17] Iph = Ilight – Idark, in which Ilight is the current observed under visible-light illumination, and Idark is the current under dark conditions. The calculated photocurrents under 395 nm illumination are 10.4, 6.73, 4.78, 4.11, and 3.47 μA at

• transferred from CuO NPs to ZnO NRs. As a result, a space charge region is created at the heterojunction interface, and an internal electric field is formed. Under visible-light illumination (Figure 7b), while charge carriers are not generated inside ZnO NRs because of the large bandgap, electron–hole pair

• spectra of the pure ZnO NRs and CuO NPs/ZnO NRs. (a) I–V characteristics and (b) I–t curves of the photodetector based on CuO NPs/ZnO NRs heterojunctions under 395 nm exposure with different light intensities. I–t curves after three cycles under 395 nm visible-light illumination with two power densities

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

• . (c) Transient photocurrent response and (d) EIS curves of SnO2 and SnO2/GQDs (1%) under visible light illumination and in darkness. Figure 13 was reprinted from [36], Applied Surface Science, vol. 448, by Xie, Y.; Yu, S.; Zhong, Y.; Zhang, Q.; Zhou, Y. “SnO2/graphene quantum dots composited

Construction of a 0D/1D composite based on Au nanoparticles/CuBi₂O₄ microrods for efficient visible-light-driven photocatalytic activity

• Weilong Shi,
• Mingyang Li,
• Hongji Ren,
• Feng Guo,
• Xiliu Huang,
• Yu Shi and
• Yubin Tang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1360–1367, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.134

• , which can facilitate the separation of the photogenerated carriers [25]. Au NPs in the composite can be also excited under visible-light illumination due to the SPR effect. The hot electrons of Au NPs near the Fermi level can be excited to the SPR state and transferred to the CB of CBO to participate in

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

• have been prepared for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution under visible-light illumination. This approach not only results in a material with a narrower bandgap but also in the efficient charge transfer and separation, realizing the synergistic effect of C-doping and composite nanostructures. It was

Polydopamine-coated Au nanorods for targeted fluorescent cell imaging and photothermal therapy

• Boris N. Khlebtsov,
• Andrey M. Burov,
• Timofey E. Pylaev and
• Nikolai G. Khlebtsov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 794–803, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.79

• -light illumination due to the presence of R123 molecules. Additionally, nanoparticles can selectively accumulate in the cancer cells because of targeting to folate receptors. Folate-mediated cell imaging Efficient cellular uptake of nanocarriers is significant to ensure the therapeutic efficacy of

• obtained composite nanoparticles that have two important theranostic modalities. First, due to the strong light absorption by the AuNR core, the nanoparticles are suitable for photothermal treatment in the NIR tissue transparency window. Second, the nanocomposite shows strong fluorescence under visible

Reduced graphene oxide supported C₃N₄ nanoflakes and quantum dots as metal-free catalysts for visible light assisted CO₂ reduction

• Md Rakibuddin and
• Haekyoung Kim

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 448–458, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.44

• 13CH3OH, respectively. The photoreduction mechanism of CO2 to HCHO in the presence of the GCN-5 catalyst under visible light illumination is shown in Figure 13. The CN QDs absorb visible wavelengths of sunlight due to their appropriate band edge potential value, thus exciting the electrons. These excited

• visible light illumination. Supporting Information Supporting Information File 60: Additional figures. Acknowledgements This work has been supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), grant funded by the Korea government (MSIT) (No. 2018R1A1A3A04076752).

Lead-free hybrid perovskites for photovoltaics

• Oleksandr Stroyuk

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2209–2235, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.207

• and MAI on mesoporous titania scaffolds [147]. After covering with a Spiro-MeOTAD HTL, the MAMnI3-based device showed a response to the visible light illumination that was stable for at least 2000 s in an on/off cycling test [147]. A similar response to the UV light was observed for MA2MnCl4

A visible-light-controlled platform for prolonged drug release based on Ag-doped TiO₂ nanotubes with a hydrophobic layer

• Caihong Liang,
• Jiang Wen and
• Xiaoming Liao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1793–1801, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.170

• visible-light illumination, drug release from the sample coated with NDM was shown to increase due to the photocatalytic decomposition of NDM. The amount of released Zn2+ for this sample increased up to 71.9% within 12 h, indicating visible-light-controlled drug release. This drug release system may

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

• and subsequent degradation was used to fit the experimental data. The results have shown an increase in photocatalytic activity under visible-light illumination of nonmetal and metal doped and co-doped titania thin films compared to an undoped sample. Keywords: doping; photocatalysis; sol–gel

• synthesis; thin films; titanium dioxide; visible-light illumination; Introduction In recent years, titanium dioxide (TiO2) has emerged as one of the most widely investigated semiconductors [1]. Due to its favorable properties (e.g., chemical and biological stability, nontoxicity and inexpensive price) it

• material system [33][34]. Nitrogen has been shown to be an effective doping element in increasing the response of TiO2 during visible-light illumination. When the material is doped with nitrogen, a linear combination of 2p orbitals of N and O results in the formation of hybrid orbitals, causing a narrowing

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

• support. The photogenerated electrons are transported from the Mn-doped TiO2 through RGO and were found to reduce the adsorbed Cr(VI) [137]. A Ti–SBA-15–g-C3N4 material was also shown to exhibit higher Cr(VI) photoreduction under visible light illumination. The Ti moiety in Ti–SBA-15 can extract the

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

• shows the physical color of the samples. (b) The plot of (αhν)2 vs photon energy (hν). Photocatalytic activity under visible light illumination. (a) The rhodamine B (RhB) solution degradation of the as-prepared samples with sample with no catalyst and P25 as comparison. (b) The linear fitting of the

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

• the absorbance of RhB at the different time intervals under visible light illumination. For the BPA degradation study, it was dissolved in DI water with the help of probe sonication and the concentration of the final solution was kept at 5 × 10−5 M. Prior to irradiation, 25 mL of BPA solution mixed

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

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

• -500. Photoluminescence spectra of ZFO samples excited at 330 nm. FTIR spectra of ZFO samples. Linear-sweep voltammograms of ZFO-400 to ZFO-700 (a) under dark conditions, (b) under visible-light illumination. Mott–Schottky plot yielding the flat-band potential of ZFO-500. Nyquist plot of ZFO-400 to ZFO

CdSe nanorod/TiO₂ nanoparticle heterojunctions with enhanced solar- and visible-light photocatalytic activity

• Fakher Laatar,
• Hatem Moussa,
• Halima Alem,
• Lavinia Balan,
• Emilien Girot,
• Ghouti Medjahdi,
• Hatem Ezzaouia and
• Raphaël Schneider

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2741–2752, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.273

• CB of TiO2 (Figure 11a). Under visible light illumination, only CdSe can be activated. A CdSe NR electron is promoted from the VB to the CB, leaving a hole in the VB. Then, the electron is transferred to TiO2 (Figure 11b). All these transfer processes are thermodynamically favorable since both the CB

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

• ). Moreover the catalyst shows excellent stability and the original phase was retained even after five reusability cycles. The H2 evolution mechanism was demonstrated on the basics of suitable band potentials of both the semiconductors. Under visible-light illumination, the photogenerated electron–hole

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

• both under solar and visible light illumination (light intensity = 5 mW/cm2) of all the ZnO/ZCIS composites prepared, we selected Orange II dye as a model contaminant because this dye is not a photosensitizer (in contrast to Methylene Blue or Rhodamine which promote photocatalytic degradation). Prior

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

• −2) having a UV cut-off filter (λ > 420 nm) was used for visible light illumination. Another set of experiments were performed under natural sunlight and the light intensity was measured using a LX-101A digital luxmeter. At periodic time intervals, the photo-reacted suspension (ca. 1 mL) was analyzed

• . In accordance with the above equation, with CdS–ZnO–RGO ternary photocatalyst about 98% of dye was degraded in 90 min, under visible light illumination from a solar simulator, but with CdS–ZnO binary photocatalyst, only about 70% of dye was degraded. The degradation of the same concentration of MO

• visible light illumination, electron–hole pairs are generated in conduction band (CB) and valence band (VB) of CdS. The CB potential of CdS are ECB = −0.66 eV vs NHE, which is more negative than the ECB of ZnO [62][63]. This relative position of CB of CdS with respect to ZnO leads to the charge transfer

Enhancement of photocatalytic H₂ evolution of eosin Y-sensitized reduced graphene oxide through a simple photoreaction

• Weiying Zhang,
• Yuexiang Li,
• Shaoqin Peng and
• Xiang Cai

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 801–811, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.92

• sacrificial electron donor. To the best of our knowledge, studies on the effect of irradiation time on the performance of RGOx for the dye sensitized H2 generation have not been reported so far. The sensitization activity for hydrogen evolution under visible light illumination is much higher than that of EY

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

• CdS particles can be excited and efficiently injected electrons to the CB of the attached TiO2 particles under visible light illumination [18]. In the case of CdS photosensitized TiO2, the energy of visible light cannot directly excite TiO2 particle due to its wide bandgap (Eg = 3.2 eV). However

• with different sizes of gold nanoparticles under visible light illumination (≥420 nm). The gold nanoparticles with a SPR peak located at 556 nm have the maximum photocurrent density and the IPCE value can reach around 8%. The authors described the good match between the plasmonic wavelength of gold

• reach 38.1 μmol/h under visible light illumination [94]. In this process, multi-walled carbon nanotube plays the role of a photosensitizer by enhancing the visible-light activity of the composite photocatalyst. The photosensitization of carbon nanotubes was also reported for carbon nanotube–TiO2

Challenges in realizing ultraflat materials surfaces

• Takashi Yatsui,
• Wataru Nomura,
• Fabrice Stehlin,
• Olivier Soppera,
• Makoto Naruse and
• Motoichi Ohtsu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 875–885, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.99

• sputtering of Al2O3 (30 min sputtering time) under visible light illumination. The average width of the scratches was found to decrease from 128 to 92 nm when this method was adopted, according to a statistical analysis, which employed a Hough transform. Furthermore, the average depth decreased from 3 to 1

• sites were formed during RF sputtering under visible light illumination. After 10 min of RF sputtering under illumination, an ultra-flat sapphire surface with an Ra value of 0.08 nm was obtained. In contrast, Ra increased as the sputtering time increased without illumination i.e., when using

• on the etching time. Blue solid squares and red solid triangles are data for (c) and (d), blue open squares and red open triangles are for (f) and (g). AFM images of the alumina substrate surface after RF sputtering (a) without and (b) with visible light illumination (Reproduced with permission from

Kelvin probe force microscopy of nanocrystalline TiO₂ photoelectrodes

• Alex Henning,
• Gino Günzburger,
• Res Jöhr,
• Yossi Rosenwaks,
• Biljana Bozic-Weber,
• Catherine E. Housecroft,
• Edwin C. Constable,
• Ernst Meyer and
• Thilo Glatzel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 418–428, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.49

• built-in potential on the DSC performance at the TiO2/SnO2:F interface, investigated on a nanometer scale by KPFM measurements under visible light illumination, has not been resolved so far. Keywords: atomic force microscopy (AFM); dye-sensitized solar cells (DSC); Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM

Photoelectrochemical and Raman characterization of In₂O₃ mesoporous films sensitized by CdS nanoparticles

• Mikalai V. Malashchonak,
• Sergey K. Poznyak,
• Eugene A. Streltsov,
• Anatoly I. Kulak,
• Olga V. Korolik and
• Alexander V. Mazanik

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 255–261, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.27

• approximately 700 mV when increasing the temperature of the oxide annealing (Figure 7). Figure 8 shows the photocurrent–potential curves recorded under visible-light illumination of In2O3(200)/CdS and In2O3(400)/CdS heterostructures (curves 3 and 4) in an S2−-containing electrolyte. For comparison, similar

• illumination of the mesoporous In2O3 electrodes annealed at 200 °C (1) and 400 °C (2). Electrolyte: 0.1 M KOH solution. Photocurrent versus electrode potential curves recorded under visible-light illumination of the In2O3 (1, 2) and In2O3/CdS electrodes (3–5). The In2O3 films were annealed at 200 (1, 3) and