BiOI/TiO 2 heterostructures with different Bi to Ti molar ratios were synthesized through a simple soft-chemical method at a temperature as low as 80°C. The as-prepared powders were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, electron microscopy, UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, nitrogen sorption, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The photocatalytic activities of these BiOI/TiO 2 heterostructures were evaluated on the degradation of methyl orange under visible-light irradiation (λ > 420 nm). The results revealed that the BiOI/TiO 2 heterostructures exhibited much higher photocatalytic activities than pure BiOI and TiO 2 , respectively, and 50%BiOI/TiO 2 showed the best activity among all these heterostructured photocatalysts. Surface photovoltage spectroscopy and transient photovoltage measurements were used to confirm the formation of heterojunction and probe charge transfer between BiOI and TiO 2 . The visible-light photocatalytic activity enhancement of BiOI/TiO 2 heterostructures could be attributed to its strong absorption in the visible region and low recombination rate of the electron-hole pairs because of the heterojunction formed between BiOI and TiO 2 .

Gold nanoparticles strongly absorb both visible light and ultraviolet light to drive an oxidation reaction for a synthetic dye, as well as phenol degradation and selective oxidation of benzyl alcohol under UV light.

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Developing nonprecious hydrogen evolution electrocatalysts that can work well at large current densities (e.g., at 1000 mA/cm: a value that is relevant for practical, large-scale applications) is of great importance for realizing a viable water-splitting technology. Herein we present a combined theoretical and experimental study that leads to the identification of α-phase molybdenum diboride (α-MoB) comprising borophene subunits as a noble metal-free, superefficient electrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Our theoretical finding indicates, unlike the surfaces of Pt- and MoS-based catalysts, those of α-MoB can maintain high catalytic activity for HER even at very high hydrogen coverage and attain a high density of efficient catalytic active sites. Experiments confirm α-MoB can deliver large current densities in the order of 1000 mA/cm, and also has excellent catalytic stability during HER. The theoretical and experimental results show α-MoB's catalytic activity, especially at large current densities, is due to its high conductivity, large density of efficient catalytic active sites and good mass transport property.

Splitting water to produce hydrogen requires the development of non-noble-metal catalysts that are able to make this reaction feasible and energy efficient. Herein, we show that cobalt pentlandite (Co9S8) nanoparticles can serve as an electrochemically active, noble-metal-free material toward hydrogen evolution reaction, and they work stably in neutral solution (pH 7) but not in acidic (pH 0) and basic (pH 14) media. We, therefore, further present a carbon-armoring strategy to increase the durability and activity of Co9S8 over a wider pH range. In particular, carbon-armored Co9S8 nanoparticles (Co9S8@C) are prepared by direct thermal treatment of a mixture of cobalt nitrate and trithiocyanuric acid at 700 °C in N2 atmosphere. Trithiocyanuric acid functions as both sulfur and carbon sources in the reaction system. The resulting Co9S8@C material operates well with high activity over a broad pH range, from pH 0 to 14, and gives nearly 100% Faradaic yield during hydrogen evolution reaction under acidic (pH 0), neutral (pH 7), and basic (pH 14) media. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that a transition-metal chalcogenide material is shown to have all-pH efficient and durable electrocatalytic activity. Identifying Co9S8 as the catalytically active phase and developing carbon-armoring as the improvement strategy are anticipated to give a fresh impetus to rational design of high-performance noble-metal-free water splitting catalysts.

Developing nonprecious oxygen evolution electrocatalysts that can work well at large current densities is of primary importance in a viable water-splitting technology. Herein, a facile ultrafast (5 s) synthetic approach is reported that produces a novel, efficient, non-noble metal oxygen-evolution nano-electrocatalyst that is composed of amorphous Ni-Fe bimetallic hydroxide film-coated, nickel foam (NF)-supported, Ni S nanosheet arrays. The composite nanomaterial (denoted as Ni-Fe-OH@Ni S /NF) shows highly efficient electrocatalytic activity toward oxygen evolution reaction (OER) at large current densities, even in the order of 1000 mA cm . Ni-Fe-OH@Ni S /NF also gives an excellent catalytic stability toward OER both in 1 m KOH solution and in 30 wt% KOH solution. Further experimental results indicate that the effective integration of high catalytic reactivity, high structural stability, and high electronic conductivity into a single material system makes Ni-Fe-OH@Ni S /NF a remarkable catalytic ability for OER at large current densities.

Fe(2)O(3)/TiO(2) heterogeneous photocatalysts with different mass ratios of Fe(2)O(3)vs. TiO(2) were synthesized by impregnation of Fe(3+) on the surface of TiO(2) microrods and calcination at 300 degrees C. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), photoluminescence spectra and X-ray diffraction (XRD) have been used to characterize the samples. The photocatalytic activities of Fe(2)O(3)/TiO(2) heterocomposites, pure Fe(2)O(3) and pure TiO(2) were evaluated by the photodegrading efficiency of Orange II under visible light (lambda > 420 nm). The experiments demonstrated that Orange II in aqueous solution was more efficiently photodegraded using Fe(2)O(3)/TiO(2) heterogeneous photocatalysts than either pure Fe(2)O(3) or TiO(2) under visible light irradiation. With an optimal mass ratio of 7:3 in Fe(2)O(3)/TiO(2) the highest rate of Orange II photodegradation was achieved under the experimental conditions. We have also compared the photoelectric properties of Fe(2)O(3)/TiO(2) heterogeneous photocatalysts with that of pure Fe(2)O(3) by surface photovoltage (SPV) and transient photovoltage (TPV) techniques. Based on the photovoltage responses, we discussed the influence of the hetero-interface between Fe(2)O(3) and TiO(2) on transfer characteristics of photogenerated charge carriers. We demonstrated that the formation of heterojunctions between Fe(2)O(3) and TiO(2) for Fe(2)O(3)/TiO(2) composites was pivotal for improving the separation and thus restraining the recombination of photogenerated electrons and holes, which accounts for the enhancement of photocatalytic activity.

Superefficient water-splitting materials comprising sub-nanometric copper clusters and quasi-amorphous cobalt sulfide supported on copper foam are reported. While working together at both the anode and cathode sides of an alkaline electrolyzer, this material gives a catalytic output of overall water splitting comparable with the Pt/C-IrO -coupled electrolyzer.