Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Olga Boytsova, Irina Zhukova, Artem Tatarenko, Tatiana Shatalova, Artemii Beiltiukov, Andrei Eliseev, Alexey Sadovnikov
Summary: The research successfully prepared highly oriented anatase nanoparticles and found that the transition temperature from mesocrystalline anatase to rutile phase is 400 degrees Celsius higher than bulk TiO2. The formation of a small quantity of K-phase nanowhiskers after 800 degrees Celsius in the TiO2-based composite stimulated a fourfold increase in photocatalytic performance.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Xiaoqian Huang, Ruikang Zhang, Xiaoru Gao, Borong Yu, Yuanzhe Gao, Zhan-gang Han
Summary: TiO2-R/A homojunction photoanode, fabricated by in situ growth of anatase TiO2 on TiO2-R surface, displays higher photocurrent density compared to TiO2-R/R photoanode. The intense band bending and enhanced surface area of TiO2-R/A homojunction facilitate charge separation and transmission, providing novel insights for designing and fabricating semiconductor photoanodes for highly efficient photocatalytic reactions.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HYDROGEN ENERGY
(2021)
Article
Electrochemistry
Ying Chen, Xi Li, Guoneng Cai, Meijin Li, Dianping Tang
Summary: The (001)TiO2/Ti3C2 heterojunctions were successfully fabricated and used as an electrode material for the photoelectrochemical (PEC) detection of dopamine, showing promising potential for applications in PEC detection.
ELECTROCHEMISTRY COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Xiaodong Zhu, Fengqiu Qin, Lili He, Yu Jiao, Wei Feng
Summary: Anatase/rutile heterojunctions were prepared using the sol-gel method and modified by La/Sn single doping and co-doping. La and Sn co-doping showed a synergistic effect on inhibiting the recombination of photogenerated electrons and holes, which improved the photocatalytic activity.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Wei Qiang, Xiao Qu, Chuntao Chen, Lei Zhang, Dongping Sun
Summary: In this work, TiO2/Ti3C2 heterojunctions were designed to overcome the limitations of titanium dioxide (TiO2) as a photocatalyst, such as its wide band gap and quick carrier recombination process. The TiO2/Ti3C2 heterojunctions not only broaden the absorption range of light but also extend the lifetime of photogenerated carriers. Additionally, the use of anatase TiO2 with exposed (001) facets enhances the catalytic properties. By optimizing the amount of TiO2/Ti3C2 heterojunctions and controlling the reaction time, 20 mg catalysts were able to degrade 97.6% of a 30 mL tetracycline solution (15 mg/L) in 90 minutes under visible light. Even after five cycles, the degradation ability only decreased from 97.6% to 94.3%. This paper provides another perspective on the synthesis of efficient and stable photocatalysts.
MATERIALS TODAY COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Energy & Fuels
Shanshan Qin, Nikita Denisov, Xin Zhou, Lukas Zdrazil, Dominik Fehn, Imgon Hwang, Mark Bruns, Hyesung Kim, Karsten Meyer, Patrik Schmuki
Summary: In recent years, defect engineering of titania via reduction treatments has shown high potential in photocatalytic H-2 generation from methanol/water solutions. However, the altered properties of TiO2 by defect engineering have raised questions about the mechanism behind its increased activity. Through various experiments and comparisons, it was found that the increased conductivity or broad visible light absorption of gray titania is not responsible for its increased activity. Instead, the true bottleneck lies in the significantly accelerated hole transfer rate in gray titania. Moreover, the accumulation of reaction products in pure water hinders the photocatalytic H-2 evolution over time. These results explain the superior performance of gray titania over white titania in photoelectrochemical or photocatalytic water splitting.
JOURNAL OF PHYSICS-ENERGY
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Teera Butburee, Yang Bai, Lianzhou Wang
Summary: Branched nanostructures, specifically branched titanium dioxide, show potential as photocatalysts for energy conversion applications. By using a one-pot hydrothermal synthesis method, researchers have successfully controlled the growth of these nanostructures from zero-dimensional to one-dimensional and two-dimensional structures, leading to improved photocatalytic performance in photoelectrochemical water splitting.
JOURNAL OF MATERIALS CHEMISTRY A
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Analytical
Bingrong Wang, Bingdong Yan, Run Yuan, Bin Qiao, Guangyuan Zhao, Jinchun Tu, Xiaohong Wang, Hua Pei, Qiang Wu
Summary: A photoelectrochemical detection platform was constructed based on the branched rutile/anatase titanium dioxide electrode. Theoretical calculations demonstrated the efficient charge separation enabled by the type-II band alignment of rutile and anatase. Carboxylated CdTe quantum dots were used for signal amplification, resulting in highly sensitive and specific detection of target DNA.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Longxiao Yang, Ningdong Feng, Feng Deng
Summary: In this study, Al-doped TiO2 photocatalysts with optimized {001} facet structure were prepared, showing significantly enhanced photocatalytic performance. The formation of F-Ti2Al structure was confirmed by NMR and ESR experiments, and it was identified as the active site responsible for the improved photocatalytic performance.
JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY C
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Lijie Duan, Haifeng Zhu, Jiandong He, Qianlong Yang, Xingyu Zhao, Yaping Zhang, Lianqing Yu
Summary: The oriented anatase/rutile biphase junction based on TiO2 nanotube arrays was prepared by a novel thermal annealing method, demonstrating enhanced charge transfer and separation efficiency. Adjusting the phase distribution and proportion can improve the incident photon-to-current efficiency, leading to potential applications in solar energy conversion.
MATERIALS SCIENCE IN SEMICONDUCTOR PROCESSING
(2021)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Mengcheng Zhou, Shuyang Qin, Xiaoshan Huang, Xinfang Zhang
Summary: It is well known that pulsed electric current can accelerate the recrystallization process of cold deformed metals. In this study, we applied pulsed electric current to control the recrystallization grain and induce a cube texture in non-oriented silicon steel. We found that the activation energy for recrystallization in the pulsed sample was lower than that in the annealed sample, indicating a different kinetic mechanism. Furthermore, the current accelerated the nucleation of cube grains and increased the percentage of cube grain boundaries with disorientations of 20 to 40 deg, which facilitated faster growth of cube grains and obtaining a strong cubic texture.
METALLURGICAL AND MATERIALS TRANSACTIONS A-PHYSICAL METALLURGY AND MATERIALS SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Gubran Alnaggar, Khaled Alkanad, Sujay Shekar G. Chandrashekar, Mohammed Abdullah Bajiri, Qasem A. Drmosh, Lokanath N. Krishnappagowda, Sannaiah Ananda
Summary: In this study, a novel 2D TiO2-MoO3 heterojunction photocatalyst with an S-scheme system was successfully fabricated using a facile electrochemical method. The charge transfer pathways in the TiO2-MoO3 heterostructure photocatalyst were elucidated for the first time, shedding new light on the design and fabrication of novel step-scheme heterojunction photocatalysts for overall water splitting.
NEW JOURNAL OF CHEMISTRY
(2022)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Gaofeng Deng, Yafei Huang, Zewei Chen, Katsuhiko Saito, Tooru Tanaka, Makoto Arita, Qixin Guo
Summary: Rutile germanium oxide (r-GeO2) film was successfully grown heteroepitaxially on c-plane sapphire through pulsed laser deposition. The film's chemical composition, structure, surface morphology, optical properties, and crystal quality were comprehensively investigated. The results revealed that the film had a rutile structure with a good orientation, and exhibited transparent properties and a wide bandgap, which are significant for the development of wide-bandgap r-GeO2 films for electronic devices.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Anna K. Braun, Kevin L. Schulte, John Simon, Aaron J. Ptak, Corinne E. Packard
Summary: We conducted a DoE analysis to investigate the effect of growth parameters on planarizing overgrowth of rough substrates using HVPE. Two different types of rough GaAs substrates were used to compare their epitaxial growth behavior under different conditions. The analysis identified trends and favorable growth conditions, leading to achieve full planarization within a short time. This study demonstrates the promising potential of HVPE for device growth on rough substrates and provides insights for further optimization of planarization growth conditions.
CRYSTAL GROWTH & DESIGN
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Zhenbiao Dong, Yiqiang Cai, Junjie Ma, Ke Zhang, Zhenyu Li, Fenghua Liu, Jibo Liu, Fengyong Lv, Yuan Xue, Sheng Han
Summary: Bulk-phase doping and surface oxygen-defective engineering of TiO2-based nanostructures are effective routes for enhanced photoelectrochemical water splitting. A reduced Ti-Ni-O nanotubes photoanode with core-shell heterophase structure showed significantly improved PEC water splitting performance, achieved high photocurrent density and solar-to hydrogen efficiency. This work provides insight into fabricating high-performance Ti-based nano-photoanodes with enhanced light harvesting and carrier kinetics through synergistic strategy of bulk-phase elements doping and surface oxygen vacancies self-doping.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HYDROGEN ENERGY
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Dong Han Seo, Ming Xie, Adrian T. Murdock, Timothy van der Laan, Malcolm Lawn, Myoung Jun Park, Yun Chul Woo, Shafique Pineda, Jung Mi Hong, Mihaela Grigore, Samuel Yick, Zhaojun Han, Graeme Millar, Stephen Gray, Kostya Ostrikov, Ho Kyong Shon, Avi Bendavid
Summary: Membrane distillation is an emerging water purification technique that achieves high rejection and flux through temperature differential. Current membranes used in this process do not guarantee stable performance in harsh conditions.
Review
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Jyah Strachan, Anthony F. Masters, Thomas Maschmeyer
Summary: Chevrel Phases, MxMo6S8, are a class of heterogenous catalysts with unique combination of low-coordinate molybdenum atoms, tuneable oxidation state, thermal stability, and dual Lewis acidity & basicity, making them excellent candidates for fundamental catalytic reactions. Recent developments in synthesis techniques have lessened historical constraints, but the catalytic community has been slow to adopt these advances. This review summarises five decades of catalytic reports, identifies trends and gaps within the literature, and provides perspective on future directions for the catalytic application of Chevrel Phases.
MATERIALS RESEARCH BULLETIN
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Lunjie Liu, Mei-Yan Gao, Haofan Yang, Xiaoyan Wang, Xiaobo Li, Andrew I. Cooper
Summary: Conjugated organic materials have been studied as photocatalysts for solar fuels synthesis, with DE7 polymer discovered as an efficient catalyst for H2O2 production. Focus is needed on improving the photostability and initial catalytic production rates of organic photocatalysts.
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Tao Liu, Linjiang Chen, Xiaobo Li, Andrew I. I. Cooper
Summary: This study investigates the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution activity of three molecular photocatalysts (1-3) by theoretical investigations. The results reveal that slow exciton recombination, fast relaxation to the lowest-energy excited state, and a shorter charge transfer distance between the photocatalyst and the metal cocatalyst are important factors influencing the photocatalytic activity.
PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY CHEMICAL PHYSICS
(2023)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
R. Zhao, Y. Ke, T. Maschmeyer, X. Li
Summary: It is found that the presence of oxygen greatly improves the photoanodic current of the polymeric carbon nitride photoelectrode. The long-lived photoinduced hole doping to the polymeric carbon nitride, resulting from the photoinduced electron transfer to the electron acceptor oxygen, is revealed to be the underlying parameter. In addition, it is shown that the photocurrent behavior is highly dependent on the surface states of carbon nitride.
MATERIALS TODAY SUSTAINABILITY
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Hongmei Chen, Adrian M. M. Gardner, Guoan Lin, Wei Zhao, Xue Wang, Mounib Bahri, Nigel D. D. Browning, Xiaoxiang Xu, Xiaobo Li
Summary: In this study, a triazine-based COF (TAPT-Bpy-COF) coordinated with cobalt as cocatalysts showed visible-light-driven photocatalytic water oxidation. Its highly ordered structures, high surface area, good wettability, and enhanced charge separation contributed to its high photocatalytic oxygen evolution activity. This work demonstrates the potential of COFs for photocatalytic oxygen evolution half-reaction and overall water splitting.
JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY C
(2023)
Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Luyao Ge, Yuanzhen Ke, Xiaobo Li
Summary: This review presents recent developments in machine learning integrated photocatalysis, focusing on the processes of light harvesting, charge generation and separation, and surface redox reactions. It discusses the progress in understanding complex photoactivity-structure relationships and identifies key factors governing activity. The review also proposes a future paradigm for photocatalysis that involves the integration of artificial intelligence, robots, and automation.
CHEMICAL COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Education, Scientific Disciplines
Anthony Masters, Peta Greenfield, Cameron Davison, Janelle G. Evans, Alice Motion, Jennifer Barrett, Jakelin Fleur Troy, Kate Constantine, Lisa Rae Jackson Pulver
Summary: In this study, an Australian First Nations-first approach is chosen to understand the chemical elements, aiming to change the practice of chemistry by engaging with cultural heritage and knowledge. This approach acknowledges the unique position of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the Australian context. The paper explores how this approach could be implemented in Sydney on Aboriginal lands, led by Aboriginal people and incorporating local knowledge. The work so far has involved two years of meetings and discussions to determine appropriate ways of collaboration, while reflecting on the impact of the Periodic Table and considering the contribution of Indigenous knowledges to a broader chemistry curriculum.
CHEMISTRY TEACHER INTERNATIONAL
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Haofan Yang, Yu Che, Andrew I. Cooper, Linjiang Chen, Xiaobo Li
Summary: Using a combination of machine learning and high-throughput experimental screening, the exploration of ternary organic heterojunction photocatalysts was accelerated, resulting in the discovery of highly active photocatalysts with high sacrificial hydrogen production rates.
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Hongmei Chen, Adrian M. Gardner, Guoan Lin, Wei Zhao, Mounib Bahri, Nigel D. Browning, Reiner Sebastian Sprick, Xiaobo Li, Xiaoxiang Xu, Andrew I. Cooper
Summary: In this study, a bipyridine based covalent triazine-derived framework (Bpy-CTF) with metal coordination sites is used as a photocatalyst for oxygen evolution. After post-synthetic cobalt coordination, the material exhibits high sacrificial photocatalytic oxygen evolution activity under visible light illumination. Transient absorption spectroscopy studies reveal that the cobalt coordination promotes charge separation and transfer, enhancing water oxidation activity. This research demonstrates the potential of polymer photocatalysts for oxygen evolution through structural engineering and post-synthetic metalation.
CATALYSIS SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Shinji Kihara, Andrew Chan, Eugene In, Nargiss Taleb, Cherie Tollemache, Samuel Yick, Duncan J. McGillivray
Summary: This study presents a novel filter paper-based method using surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) for detecting polystyrene nanoplastics. The method is simple and offers high detection sensitivity.
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
N. Narayanan, P. J. Graham, P. Rovillain, J. O'Brien, J. Bertinshaw, S. Yick, J. Hester, A. Maljuk, D. Souptel, B. Buchner, D. Argyriou, C. Ulrich
Summary: This study provides direct evidence, through single crystal neutron diffraction experiments on TbMn2O5, of a reduced crystallographic symmetry in the multiferroic phase. These findings offer important insights into the complex interplay between magnetic and structural order in the RMn2O5 series.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Xiaobo Li, Phillip M. Maffettone, Yu Che, Tao Liu, Linjiang Chen, Andrew I. Cooper
Summary: Organic molecules play a crucial role in photocatalysts, but reliable structure-property design rules are difficult to formulate. By integrating experiment, computation, and machine learning, researchers were able to identify common structural features in molecules with high catalytic activity. The study marks a step towards the machine-learning assisted discovery of molecular organic photocatalysts, with potential applications beyond photocatalytic hydrogen evolution.
Review
Chemistry, Physical
Jyah Strachan, Anthony F. Masters, Thomas Maschmeyer
Summary: Molybdenum disulfide is a versatile material for various applications, but issues such as synthetic ambiguity and sample mischaracterizations are common in the literature on hydrothermally produced 1T-MoS2, leading to inconsistencies in understanding. Clarifying the literature is important for advancing the potential of this material.
JOURNAL OF MATERIALS CHEMISTRY A
(2021)
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Jyah Strachan, Anthony F. Masters, Thomas Maschmeyer
Summary: Chevrel phases are a class of molybdenum chalcogenide materials with unprecedented nanostructures, making them suitable candidates for active non-noble metal catalysts. These nanostructured catalysts exhibit excellent performance in electrochemical testing, and can be easily modified through electrochemical intercalation, showcasing a family of versatile and tunable catalysts.
ACS APPLIED NANO MATERIALS
(2021)
