Visible‐Light‐Responsive β‐Rhombohedral Boron Photocatalysts

Abstract

Photocatalytic solar-energy conversion has been attracting worldwide attention owing to its great significance in the provision of renewable energy and protection of the environment. [1][2][3] As important as the tailoring of well-known photocatalysts, such as TiO 2 , for high photocatalytic efficiency [4][5][6][7] is the investigation of unknown semiconductor photocatalysts. [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] So far, hundreds of photocatalysts have been examined, most of which have been compounds. [3,17,18] Recently, elemental semiconductors (Si, Se, P, S) have

2D-HfS2as an efficient photocatalyst for water splitting

“…The second generation photocatalysts have high capacity to absorb photons of visible light, however, the efficiency is poor because of inefficient charge transfer kinetics, high recombination rate of photo-generated carriers, and instability in the acidic/alkaline medium [7][8][9][10][11][12].The first and second generations of photocatalysts mostly consists of oxides, sulfides and nitride of; titanium, cadmium, tungsten and transition-metals-dichalcogenides (TMDs). red-P, alpha-sulfur and boron are reported as potential photocatalysts by the researchers [14][15][16]; the experimental realization of water splitting on a titanium oxide electrode have been demonstrated [5,[17][18]; theoretical investigations of layered transition metal dichalcogenides such as MoS 2 , MoSe 2 , and TaS 2 are considered to be potential candidates to catalyze solar water splitting [19][20][21][22]. [13].…”

Photocatalytic water oxidation by layered Co/h-BCN hybrids

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The search for new materials has progressed from metal-based photocatalysts to elemental semiconductors (C, Si, P, S, B) [11][12][13][14][15] and recently to metal-free binary materials and polymers, such as carbon nitride [16], boron carbide [17] and conjugated semiconductors [18][19][20]. These researches indicate that photon absorbing materials can be constituted by using lightweight elements such as carbon, nitrogen, and boron, opening up new opportunities for the selection of innovative and intriguing materials for artificial photosynthesis.

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Green Synthesis of Lamellae Rhombohedra Boron Suboxide for Efficient Photoreduction Catalysis with Visible Light Response

“…This can be explained by the slight surface oxidation of boron [19b,20a]. To verify that the samples are photocatalytic responsive, the photocatalytic activity of the three samples was then estimated by measuring the generated •OH radicals as described previously . The nearly linear increase in the signal intensity at 426 nm indicates the good stability of the samples as photocatalysts (Figure S19, Supporting Information).…”

“…Since the discovery of the Honda–Fujishima effect in the early 1970s, photocatalytic and photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting or CO 2 reduction on semiconducting materials have been envisioned as a promising strategy for converting solar energy to fuels, such as H 2 , CO, etc . In addition to common transition metal‐based photocatalysts, of particular recent interest are materials so called “metal‐free photocatalysts,” which mainly consist of graphitic carbon nitride (g‐C 3 N 4 ), boron carbide (B 4 C), boron arsenide (BAs), boron phosphide (BP), C‐doped boron nitride (C‐doped BN), and elemental photocatalysts, such as α‐S, β‐B, red P, and black P (Table S1, Supporting Information). Obviously, boron‐containing photocatalysts play a pivotal role in the family of “metal‐free photocatalyst.”…”