Electrospun TiO₂‐Based Photocatalysts

Abstract

Solar‐driven semiconductor photocatalysis shows great potential to solve growing energy and environmental crises. Electrospun TiO2 nanofibers (NFs) attract attention due to their chemical stability, nontoxicity, cheapness, large specific surface area, and porous structures. The unique unwoven nanofibrous network facilitates mass transportation compared with bulk materials. Electrospun TiO2 NFs are an ideal substrate for growing secondary nanostructures and constructing heterojunction photocatalysts. The hybrid heterojunctions show enhanced electron–hole separation, improved light absorption, effective activation of reactants, and therefore increased photocatalytic performance. Herein, the electrospinning principle and preparing tactics of electrospun TiO2 fibrous nanostructures including solid, hollow, and core/shell NFs are first described. The construction strategies of electrospun TiO2‐based heterojunctions by loading electron or hole cocatalysts and hybridizing secondary semiconductors to engineer catalytic active sites and steer charge carrier separation are outlined. Dopant‐induced increased light absorption and enhanced charge transfer of TiO2 NFs are discussed. Further, the applications of electrospun TiO2‐based photocatalysts for solar‐to‐chemical conversion and environmental remediation are elucidated. Finally, the challenges and perspectives for the development of electrospun TiO2‐based photocatalysts are underlined, which deepen a systematic understanding of the design and fabrication of more efficient electrospun NFs in the future.

Photocatalytic Z‐Scheme Overall Water Splitting: Recent Advances in Theory and Experiments

“…Xu et al developed a 2D/2D direct Z‐scheme system that utilized the junction between Fe 2 O 3 and g‐C 3 N 4 . [ 136 ] The intimate contact between these two SCs with successful uniform deposition of Pt can be seen in Figure a,b. Such intrinsic contact is also confirmed through DFT calculation that revealed g‐C 3 N 4 with a higher Fermi level and lowers WF (4.18 eV) as compared to Fe 2 O 3 (WF = 4.34 eV).…”

Step-by-Step Mechanism Insights into the TiO2/Ce2S3 S-Scheme Photocatalyst for Enhanced Aniline Production with Water as a Proton Source

“…TiO 2 nano bers are used as a matrix with intriguing properties featuring short charge transport length, inert aggregation and increased surface area. [10][11][12][13] Nevertheless, like other mono-component photocatalysts, the photocatalytic e ciency of unitary TiO 2 nano bers is still far away from practical application due to the rapid recombination rate of photogenerated electron/hole pairs. [14][15][16][17][18] A traditional type-II heterojunction is widely used for the electron/hole separation of a photocatalyst.…”

S‐Scheme Photocatalytic Systems

“…Photo‐induced h + can oxidize H 2 O into O 2 and/or ·OH, and mineralize organic pollutants into CO 2 and H 2 O ( Figure a). [ 4 ] In the photocatalytic process of Figure 1b, e − and h + recombination within bulk phase ( t < several ps) is much more rapidly than their transfer from bulk phase to surface redox sites ( t < hundreds of ps), and charge carrier recombination onto photocatalyst ( t < dozens of ps) is much faster than the charge involvement into photocatalytic reactions (several ns < t < several ms). Therefore, efficient spatial separation charges within bulk phase and opposite transfer to corresponding redox sites of surface phase, respectively, are of significant importance in photocatalytic process.…”