Photocatalytic nanomaterials for solar-driven bacterial inactivation: recent progress and challenges

Abstract

Nanostructured photocatalysts have attracted ever-growing research attention in the application of solar energy for water disinfection.

Two‐dimensional nanomaterials for photocatalytic water disinfection: recent progress and future challenges

“…Waterborne diseases and epidemics caused by pathogens, for example, fungi, viruses and bacteria, pose a threat to human health particularly in developing countries where 80% of illnesses are estimated to be caused by waterborne pathogens . In past decades, the accelerated urbanization and improvement in the standard of living have aroused attention to safe drinking water and sanitation, which increases the demand for ecologically friendly and effective water disinfection methods …”

“…In recent years, there has been a surge in studies regarding synthesizing advanced photocatalysts for antibacterial usage. There is a general view that the performance of photocatalysts is determined by several factors, such as optical absorption and surface/interface characteristics . Thus, semiconductors are commonly modulated to specific morphologies (zero‐dimensional (0D), one‐dimensional (1D) and two‐dimensional (2D) structures) or further coupled with foreign materials to form heterostructures …”

“…Thirdly, the high fraction of low‐coordinated 2D layers enables more exposed area for light harvesting . What's more, by rationally controlling fabrication conditions, specific active facets could be fully exposed or adjusted to a specific ratio . Lastly, the bandgap and light absorption of 2D semiconductors are adjustable by simply controlling the number and thickness of nanolayers, which might be different from 0D and 1D nanostructures.…”

“…Although a variety of reviews in the field of photocatalytic pathogen inactivation have been published, and the significance of architecture design of photocatalysts has been increasingly recognized, a comprehensive summary that specializes in 2D‐based photocatalysts for water sterilization is still lacking. In this review, a detailed overview of 2D nanomaterials for photocatalytic pathogen inactivation is presented by categories.…”

Ag3VO4 Nanoparticles Decorated Bi2O2CO3 Micro-Flowers: An Efficient Visible-Light-Driven Photocatalyst for the Removal of Toxic Contaminants

“…Semiconductor photocatalysis has been regarded as one of the most promising nanotechnologies for the treatment of environmental pollution (Bora and Mewada, 2017; Cates, 2017; Wang W. et al, 2017; Zhang and Ma, 2017; Zhu and Wang, 2017). A significant research topic of photocatalysis is the exploration of highly active photocatalysts (Li et al, 2014, 2017d, 2018b; Adhikari et al, 2015, 2016, 2017; Martin et al, 2015; Zhang et al, 2016, 2017; Mousavi et al, 2018; Yu et al, 2018).…”