Chalcogenide-Based Nanomaterials as Photocatalysts deals with the different types of chalcogenide-based photocatalytic reactions, covering the fundamental concepts of photocatalytic reactions involving chalcogenides for a range of energy and environmental applications. Sections focus on nanostructure control, synthesis methods, activity enhancement strategies, environmental applications, and perspectives of chalcogenide-based nanomaterials. The book offers guidelines for designing new chalcogenide-based nanoscale photocatalysts at low cost and high efficiency for efficient utilization of solar energy in the areas of energy production and environment remediation. - Provides information on the development of novel chalcogenide-based nanomaterials - Outlines the fundamentals of chalcogenides-based photocatalysis - Includes techniques for heterogeneous catalysis based on chalcogenide-based nanomaterials

Energy crises and global warming pose serious challenges to researchers in their attempt to develop a sustainable society for the future. Solar energy conversion is a remarkable, clean, and sustainable way to nullify the effects of fossil fuels. The findings of photocatalytic hydrogen production (PCHP) by Fujishima and Honda propose that “water will be the coal for the future”. Hydrogen is a carbon-free clean fuel with a high specific energy of combustion. Titanium oxide (TiO2), graphitic-carbon nitride (g-C3N4) and cadmium sulfide (CdS) are three pillars of water splitting photocatalysts owing to their superior electronic and optical properties. Tremendous research efforts have been made in recent years to fabricate visible or solar-light, active photocatalysts. The significant features of various oxide, sulfide, and carbon based photocatalysts for cost-effective hydrogen production are presented in this Special Issue. The insights of sacrificial agents on the hydrogen production efficiency of catalysts are also presented in this issue.

Nanostructured Materials for Visible Light Photocatalysis describes the various methods of synthesizing different classes of nanostructured materials that are used as photocatalysts for the degradation of organic hazardous dyes under visible light irradiation. The first three chapters include a general introduction, basic principles, mechanisms, and synthesis methods of nanomaterials for visible light photocatalysis. Recent advances in carbon, bismuth series, transition metal oxide and chalcogenides-based nanostructured materials for visible light photocatalysis are discussed. Later chapters describe the role of phosphides, nitrides, and rare earth-based nanostructured-based materials in visible light photocatalysis, as well as the characteristics, synthesis, and fabrication of photocatalysts. The role of doping, composites, defects, different facets, morphology of nanostructured materials and green technology for efficient dye removal under visible-light irradiation are also explored. Other topics covered include large-scale production of nanostructured materials, the challenges in present photocatalytic research, the future scope of nanostructured materials regarding environmental hazard remediation under visible light, and solar light harvesting. This book is a valuable reference to researchers and enables them to learn more about designing advanced nanostructured materials for wastewater treatment and visible-light irradiation. Covers all the recent developments of nanostructured photocatalytic materials Provides a clear overview of the mechanism of visible light photocatalysis and the controlled synthesis of nanostructured materials Assesses the major challenges of creating visible light photocatalysis systems at the nanoscale

Photocatalytic Systems by Design: Materials, Mechanisms and Applications explores various aspects of photocatalysis, including the photocatalytic phenomenon and process, applications, and the design of photocatalysts via band gap engineering. The book also covers band edge position engineering for multiple photocatalytic applications, such as pollutant degradations, hydrogen production, CO2 reduction into hydrocarbon fuels, antimicrobial disinfections, organic synthesis, N2 fixation, and more. This book is designed to enable beginners to learn the concepts and applications of photocatalysis. Unlike conventional books on photocatalysis, the book provides a 360° perspective into the field of photocatalysis and serves as an informative handbook for all audiences. Addresses all concepts and applications of photocatalysis Covers the fundamentals, including mechanisms of photocatalytic materials Describes the various material systems and engineering of photocatalysts Offers insight into the schemes for photocatalysis of various materials Discusses the application-specific design of photocatalysts

This critical volume examines the different methods used for the synthesis of a great number of photocatalysts, including TiO2, ZnO and other modified semiconductors, as well as characterization techniques used for determining the optical, structural and morphological properties of the semiconducting materials. Additionally, the authors discuss photoelectrochemical methods for determining the light activity of the photocatalytic semiconductors by means of measurement of properties such as band gap energy, flat band potential and kinetics of hole and electron transfer. Photocatalytic Semiconductors: Synthesis, Characterization and Environmental Applications provide an overview of the semiconductor materials from first- to third-generation photocatalysts and their applications in wastewater treatment and water disinfection. The book further presents economic and toxicological aspects in the production and application of photocatalytic materials.

This first ever reference book that focuses on metal chalcogenide semiconductor nanostructures for renewable energy applications encapsulates the state-of-the-art in multidisciplinary research on the metal chalcogenide semiconductor nanostructures (nanocrystals, nanoparticles, nanorods, nanowires, nanobelts, nanoflowers, nanoribbons and more). The properties and synthesis of a class of nanomaterials is essential to renewable energy manufacturing and this book focuses on the synthesis of metal chalcogendie nanostructures, their growth mechanism, optical, electrical, and other important properties and their applications in different diverging fields like photovoltaics, hydrogen production, theromelectrics, lithium battery, energy storage, photocatalysis, sensors. An important reference source for students, scientists, engineers, researchers and industrialists working on nanomaterials-based energy aspects associated with chemistry, physics, materials science, electrical engineering, energy science and technology, and environmental science.

This book introduces readers to a wide range of applications for elements in Group 16 of the periodic table, such as, optical fibers for communication and sensing, X-ray imaging, electrochemical sensors, data storage devices, biomedical applications, photovoltaics and IR detectors, the rationale for these uses, the future scope of their applications, and expected improvements to existing technologies. Following an introductory section, the book is broadly divided into three parts—dealing with Sulfur, Selenium, and Tellurium. The sections cover the basic structure of the elements and their compounds in bulk and nanostructured forms; properties that make these useful for various applications, followed by applications and commercial products. As the global technology revolution necessitates the search for new materials and more efficient devices in the electronics and semiconductor industry, Applications of Chalcogenides: S, Se, and Te is an ideal book for a wide range of readers in industry, government and academic research facilities looking beyond silicon for materials used in the electronic and optoelectronic industry as well as biomedical applications.

The inorganic titanium dioxide TiO2 and metal-free graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) are the two most important photocatalysts owing to their low cost, non-toxicity, high thermal and chemical stability, as well as high reactivity. However, these two materials also suffer from certain drawbacks such as a relatively high rate of electron-hole pair recombination, a slightly large bandgap that requires UV-light for activation (TiO2), and a relatively small surface area (g-C3N4).This thesis focuses to overcome above drawbacks by combining TiO2 with low bandgap metal chalcogenide semiconducting nanoparticles as a strategy to create an efficient charge separation at the interface of the heterojunctions and to extend the absorption to visible region. This thesis also attempts to improve the photocatalytic efficiency of g-C3N4 by synthesizing it with high surface area and, finely, by combining it with TiO2. After describing briefly the motivation behind the work and the existing literature on the subject matter in the first chapter, the Chapter 2 describes precursor-mediated synthesis and photocatalytic activity of binary coinage metal chalcogenide nanoparticles and their composites with TiO2 under mild conditions. We successfully isolate and characterize kinetically and/or thermally unstable molecular species during the reactions, thus providing an insight into the molecule-to-nanoparticle mechanisms. The metal chalcogenide-titania nanocomposites show superior activity for the photodegradation of formic acid under ultraviolet light, as compared to titania (P25), which is a well-established benchmark for photocatalysis under UV light. Chapter 3 describes the synthesis of ternary coinage metal chalcogenides and their composites with titania. A direct room temperature reaction of tBu2Se with copper and silver trifluoroacetates gives copper-silver-selenide nanoparticles that are formed via a highly reactive intermediate molecular species [Ag2Cu(TFA)4(tBu2Se)4]. We also employed the pre-formed copper chalcogenide NPs as precursors and reacted it with di-tertiary butyl chalcogenide to obtain ternary metal chalcogenide nanoparticles and their composites with TiO2 in pure phase and with high yield. Photocatalytic studies for the degradation of formic acid under ultraviolet radiations show that the ternary CuAgSe-TiO2 nanocomposites are even better photocatalysts than the binary chalcogenide-TiO2 nanocomposites described in Chapter 2. The second part of this thesis described in Chapter 4 diverges from the earlier chapters to concentrate on the coupling of titania with graphitic carbon nitride. In the first step, we develop a simple single-step calcination approach to synthesize graphitic nanoparticles with a high surface area (200 m2/g). We test the prepared photocatalyst for the degradation of formic acid and phenol under visible light, and analyze the effect of factors such as surface area, irradiance and concentration of carbon nitride on the photocatalytic performance. Results show that the performance increases linearly with surface area and irradiance, whereas it first increases and gradually reaches plateau as concentration of the photocatalyst is increased. In the second step, we couple carbon nitride with titania using mechanical mixing. The prepared nanocomposites are then evaluated for the photodegradation of formic acid under both ultraviolet and visible lights. Finally, the Chapter 5 describes the experimental details of the synthesis and characterization of the molecular precursors, metal chalcogenide nanoparticles, g-C3N4 nanosheets as well as their composites with TiO2. It also describes in detail the experimental setup for the photocatalytic studies.

Nanocatalysis is a topical area of research that has huge potential. It attempts to merge the advantages of heterogeneous and homogeneous catalysis. The collection of articles in this book treats the topics of specificity, activity, reusability, and stability of the catalyst and presents a compilation of articles that focuses on different aspects of these issues.

This book, Green Nanotechnology - Overview and Further Prospects, is intended to provide an overview and practical examples of the use of nanomaterials in the new scientific challenges of the green nanotechnology world. We aimed to compile information from a diversity of sources into a single volume to give some real examples, extending the concept that green nanotechnology is far from being a scientific conundrum, and instead a real answer to some of the actual problems the whole planet is dealing with.