Next-Generation Multifunctional Carbon–Metal Nanohybrids for Energy and Environmental Applications

Abstract

Nanotechnology has unprecedentedly revolutionized human societies over the past decades and will continue to advance our broad societal goals in the coming decades. The research, development, and particularly the application of engineered nanomaterials have shifted the focus from "less efficient" single-component nanomaterials toward "superior-performance", nextgeneration multifunctional nanohybrids. Carbon nanomaterials (e.g., carbon nanotubes, graphene family nanomaterials, carbon dots, and graphitic carbon nitride) and metal/metal oxide nanoparticles (e.g., Ag, Au, CdS, Cu2O, MoS2, TiO2, and ZnO) combinations are the most commonly pursued nanohybrids (carbon-metal nanohybrids; CMNHs), which exhibit appealing properties and promising multifunctionalities for addressing multiple complex challenges faced by humanity at the critical energy-water-environment (EWE) nexus. In this frontier review, we first highlight the altered and newly emerging properties (e.g., electronic and optical attributes, particle size, shape, morphology, crystallinity, dimensionality, carbon/metal ratio, and hybridization mode) of CMNHs that are distinct from those of their parent component materials. We then illustrate how these important newly emerging properties and functions of CMNHs direct their performances at the EWE nexus including energy harvesting (e.g., H2O splitting and CO2 conversion), water treatment (e.g., contaminant removal and membrane technology), and environmental sensing and

Recent Achievements in Development of TiO2-Based Composite Photocatalytic Materials for Solar Driven Water Purification and Water Splitting

“…Among a variety of materials that are selected for the preparation of TiO2-based nanocomposites to increase their photocatalytic efficiency, nanostructured carbon materials, such as carbon nanotubes and graphene family nanomaterials (e.g., GO, rGO, g-C3N4), are of particular interest [114]. The advantages, such as chemical stability, structural diversity with prominent light-absorptive, and electron transport properties, make them promising materials for use in photocatalytic H2 generation by the water splitting processes [115]. After briefly providing the basic principles to fully understand the H 2 evolution through photocatalytic water splitting, following sections are more focused on the recent achievements in fabrication and the evaluation of different TiO 2 -based heterojunctions with different families of materials, including carbon-based, transition metal oxides and chalcogenides, and multiple-based composites consisting of three or more semiconductor materials for H 2 generation.…”

“…Among a variety of materials that are selected for the preparation of TiO 2 -based nanocomposites to increase their photocatalytic efficiency, nanostructured carbon materials, such as carbon nanotubes and graphene family nanomaterials (e.g., GO, rGO, g-C 3 N 4 ), are of particular interest [114]. The advantages, such as chemical stability, structural diversity with prominent light-absorptive, and electron transport properties, make them promising materials for use in photocatalytic H 2 generation by the water splitting processes [115].…”

Nano‐scale applications in aquaculture: Opportunities for improved production and disease control

“…Advancements in NP synthesis have allowed for incorporation of multifunctionality and invoking unique properties at the nano-scale (Aich et al, 2014(Aich et al, , 2017Wang et al, 2019). While there are multiple opportunities where nanotechnology can be integrated and can bring unique advantages to the aquaculture sector, integration of the knowledge of NPs' potential for adverse effects on organism and environmental health is warranted (Aich et al, 2017;Lead et al, 2018;Saleh et al, 2014Saleh et al, , 2015.…”

Research Progress on Photocatalytic/Photoelectrocatalytic Oxidation of Nitrogen Oxides

“…Graphite-phase carbon nitride (g-C 3 N 4 ) is a nonmetallic, polymer semiconductor photocatalytic catalyst that has many advantages, including small band gap width of 2.7 eV, visible light photocatalytic activity, low cost, good acid and alkali corrosion resistance, and excellent chemical and thermal stabilities [20,29,[62][63][64]. However, the low separation efficiency of photogenerated electron-hole pairs and poor visible-light utilization efficiency of g-C 3 N 4 limit its applications in PC [65].…”