Microcystis@TiO2 Nanoparticles for Photocatalytic Reduction Reactions: Nitrogen Fixation and Hydrogen Evolution

Abstract

Solar-driven photocatalysis has been known as one of the most potential technologies to tackle the energy shortage and environmental pollution issues. Utilizing bio-pollutants to prepare functional materials has been considered as a green option. Herein, we used Microcystis aeruginosa as a bio-template to fabricate a Microcystis@TiO2 photocatalyst using a calcination method. The as-prepared Microcystis@TiO2 showed prominent ability as well as favorable stability for photocatalytic reduction reactions including hydrogen evolution and nitrogen fixation. Under light illumination, Microcystis@TiO2 calcined at 550 °C exhibited optimal photo-reduced activity among all samples, with the highest hydrogen evolution (1.36 mmol·g−1·h−1) and ammonia generation rates (0.97 mmol·g−1·h−1). This work provides a feasible approach to prepare functional materials from disposed pollutants.

TiO2-Based Photocatalytic Coatings on Glass Substrates for Environmental Applications

“…Therefore, semiconductor photocatalysis has been widely used in the environmental and energy fields [7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. Various semiconductor materials have been developed as photocatalysts, such as TiO 2 , g-C 3 N 4 , ZnO, Bi-based, and Ag-based materials [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]. As shown in Figure 1, TiO 2 was the most researched photocatalyst among many semiconductor photocatalysts due to its good photostability, low cost, and environmental friendliness [24][25][26][27].…”