Cascade charge separation mechanism by ternary heterostructured BiPO4/TiO2/g-C3N4 photocatalyst

A complex ternary BiPO4/TiO2/gC(3)N(4) heterostructure has been obtained from a simple impregnation method having good photoactivities for the degradation of phenol under solar-like irradiation. From the wide structural, surface and electronic characterization, we have stated that the formation of the ternary heterojunction notably affect photoactivity of pristine TiO2. Thus, the best result for the binary…

Cu–TiO2 systems for the photocatalytic H2 production: Influence of structural and surface support features

The influence of different TiO2 supports on the Cu active species has been studied. It was found that the photocatalytic H2 evolution is highly affected by the structural and electronic features of surface Cu species. Thus, metal dispersion and oxidation state appears strongly conditioned by the structural and surface properties of the TiO2 support. We have examined three…

On the origin of the photocatalytic activity improvement of BIVO4 through rare earth tridoping

Rare earth (Tm3+/Er3+,Yb3+,Y3+) tri-doped BiVO4 have been synthesized by means of a surfactant free hydrothermal method having good photoactivities under sun-like excitation for the degradation of methylene blue and O-2 evolution reactions. The improved photocatalytic performance has been attained by multiple approach of the overall photocatalytic mechanism. From the structural and morphological characterization it has…

A novel two-steps solvothermal synthesis of nanosized BiPO4 with enhanced photocatalytic activity

Nano-sized BiPO4 has been successfully synthesized via a novel designed two-steps solvothermal route using ethylene glycol as solvent. Comparing with traditional hydrothermal method, the novel approach could readily prepare BiPO4 with shorter time. The photocatalytic activity of prepared BiPO4 has been tested via degradation of methylene blue (MB) under light irradiation. The experimental results show that the BiPO4 prepared…

The role of silver nanoparticles functionalized on TiO2 for photocatalytic disinfection of harmful algae

Silver loaded TiO2 samples were prepared by photodeposition of different amounts of Ag+ ions over commercial titanium dioxide (Evonik TiO2 P25) in aqueous media without the presence of sacrificial agents. The obtained photocatalysts were characterized by several techniques such as X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS)…