Photocatalytic composites based on titania nanoparticles and carbon nanomaterials

Abstract

In this article we present a review on recent experimental works toward the formation of visible light responsive composite photocatalysts on the basis of titania nanoparticles and carbon nanomaterials of different types. The research results achieved in last years has shown that the nanocomposite photocatalysts comprising titania nanoparticles and graphene or graphene oxide sheets, and also nanoparticles of noble metals and metallic oxides, exhibited the evident priority compared to the others. Therefore our review emphasizes the research on these promising visible light responsive nanophotocatalysts.

Enhanced photocatalysis and biomolecular sensing with field-activated nanotube-nanoparticle templates

“…Many industrial processes require efficient catalysis of redox reactions 1 – 4 . A seemingly different problem is the sensing of biomolecules, which can pose its own challenges 4 – 6 . In fact, these scientific problems are related—both catalytic activity and sensing can be dramatically enhanced by the use of nanostructured templates/chips.…”

“…In fact, these scientific problems are related—both catalytic activity and sensing can be dramatically enhanced by the use of nanostructured templates/chips. In the field of plasmon catalysis, a major goal of current research is to design such templates to facilitate charge transfer to target molecules, thereby enhancing plasmonic photocatalytic activity 1 – 4 and enhancing the Raman signal intensity of otherwise spectroscopically dark molecules 4 – 6 .…”

“…Nanomaterials that exhibit elevated catalytic performance play a significant role in high value industrial processes such as the reduction of carbon dioxide or nitroaromatics 1 – 4 . Catalytic processes augmented by plasmon active nanomaterials for example gold (Au) or silver (Ag) offer significant potential to enhance heterogeneous catalytic processes 4 – 6 . The catalytic enhancement associated with metal nanoparticles (NPs) results from optical excitation of localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPRs) that act as the energy input to drive chemical transformations in redox reactions, and may also be facilitated by the intense local electric field and local heat generated 1 – 4 .…”

Mixed‐Phase 2D‐MoS2 as an Effective Photocatalyst for Selective Aerobic Oxidative Coupling of Amines under Visible‐Light Irradiation

“…To overcome these problems general strategies to separate charges have been introduced and this was accomplished using heterojunctions (metal‐semiconductor or semiconductor‐semiconductor) with appropriate band‐edge alignments to usher electron and holes in opposite directions. Successful material combinations include hybrid semiconducting junctions (e.g., TiO 2 ‐CdS), and semiconductor‐metal junctions such as TiO 2 ‐Au, TiO 2 ‐Ag and TiO 2 ‐SWCNT (single‐walled carbon nanotube), etc. have been reported in many photocatalytic applications.…”

Microstructure and photocatalytic activity of electrospun carbon nanofibers decorated by TiO 2 nanoparticles from hydrothermal reaction/blended spinning

“…As the most promising photocatalysts, TiO 2 has attracted extensive attention due to its low cost, no toxicity, high photosensitivity, and chemical stability [8][9][10]. In previous reports, TiO 2 was sensitized with many short band gap compositions or underwent surface modifications, such as N-doping [11], noble metal@TiO 2 [12], sulfide@TiO 2 [13] or carbonaceous materials@TiO 2 [14], and so on, to improve the photocatalytic activity by extending the photoresponsive range and increasing the electron-hole pair separation efficiency [15].…”