Discovery of New Multi-phase Photocatalysts

新型多相光催化剂的发现

• 批准号: EP/K014099/1
• 负责人: Robert Palgrave
• 金额: $ 8.55万
• 依托单位: University College London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2013 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FK014099%2F1
• 关键词: Discovery; New; Multi; phase; Photocatalysts

Photocatalysts are solid materials capable of using light to initiate chemical reactions on their surfaces. They are currently used as self cleaning coatings in a wide range of commercial products (such as self cleaning windows, self cleaning fabrics) and to eliminate pollution in wastewater or the air. Globally the photocatalysis industry is predicted to grow to a value of US$1.7 billion by 2014, according to BCC Research. At present, effective photocatalysts can use only ultraviolet (UV) light. Far greater efficiency might be obtained, and new applications opened up, if a material could be found that works in visible light, as it is much more naturally abundant on Earth. One important future application is the use of sunlight by photocatalysts to split water, forming hydrogen; this has the possibility to contribute strongly to a renewable energy economy.The proposed project will study new directions in photocatalytic material discovery, with the aim of finding new visible light active materials. The approach can be divided into two strands, each of which addresses a key problem in current research in this area:Firstly, in this project epitaxial thin films will be used as vehicles for photocatalytic material discovery. The aim is to address the widespread use of poorly defined samples, such as nanopowders with inderterminable phase composition, dopant distribution, surface morphology and other properties that each contribute strongly to the catalytic properties of the material. In contrast epitaxial thin films act as model samples having well defined orientation, composition, surfaces and interfaces which make full characterisation and discovery of meaningful structure-function relationships possible. A variety of new techniques will be developed to study photocatalytic materials in epitaxial form.Secondly, biomimetic Z scheme systems will be investigated. These use the same principle as biological photosynthesis, where two photosystems are coupled together to perform an overall reaction. In the artificial Z schemes studied here, two artificial photocatalyst materials will be coupled together in the solid state across a heterojunction, using a variety of different routes to synthesise the nanocomposite materials. The key advantage of a Z scheme is that it allows the energy of two photons to be combined. Therefore two low energy (visible light) photons can be used in place of one high energy (ultraviolet) photon to perform photocatalysis. Since visible light is much more abundant than UV light on Earth, this would mean a significant increase in catalyst efficacy.Taken together, these two features represent a significantly novel approach to photocatlaysis, which aims to overcome long standing problems in the field, and generate reliable, well founded data as the basis for truly rational catalyst material design.

光催化剂是能够利用光在其表面上引发化学反应的固体材料。它们目前在广泛的商业产品中用作自清洁涂层（如自清洁窗户，自清洁织物），并用于消除废水或空气中的污染。根据BCC Research的数据，到2014年，全球电子烟行业的价值预计将增长到17亿美元。目前，有效的光催化剂只能使用紫外（UV）光。如果能找到一种在可见光下工作的材料，可能会获得更高的效率，并开辟新的应用，因为它在地球上的自然资源要丰富得多。未来的一个重要应用是通过光催化剂利用太阳光分解水，形成氢气，这有可能为可再生能源经济做出巨大贡献。拟议项目将研究光催化材料发现的新方向，旨在发现新的可见光活性材料。该方法可以分为两个部分，每个部分都解决了当前该领域研究中的一个关键问题：首先，在该项目中，外延薄膜将用作光催化材料发现的工具。其目的是解决定义不明确的样品的广泛使用，例如具有无法确定的相组成，掺杂剂分布，表面形态和其他特性的纳米粉末，每个特性都对材料的催化性能有很大贡献。相反，外延薄膜作为模型样品具有明确的方向，成分，表面和界面，使充分表征和发现有意义的结构-功能关系成为可能。发展各种新技术来研究外延形式的光催化材料。第二，仿生Z方案系统将被研究。它们使用与生物光合作用相同的原理，其中两个光系统耦合在一起以进行整体反应。在这里研究的人工Z方案中，两种人工光催化剂材料将在固态下通过异质结耦合在一起，使用各种不同的路线来合成纳米复合材料。Z方案的主要优点是它允许两个光子的能量结合。因此，可以使用两个低能量（可见光）光子来代替一个高能量（紫外）光子来执行双光子发射。由于地球上的可见光比紫外光丰富得多，这将意味着催化剂效率的显著提高。这两个特征合在一起，代表了一种显著新颖的光催化方法，旨在克服该领域长期存在的问题，并生成可靠的、有充分依据的数据，作为真正合理的催化剂材料设计的基础。

项目成果

Band gap and electronic structure of MgSiN2

MgSiN2 的带隙和电子结构

• DOI: 10.1063/1.4896134
• 发表时间: 2014
• 期刊: Applied Physics Letters
• 影响因子: 4
• 作者: Quirk J

Electronic and surface properties of Ga-doped In2O3 ceramics

• DOI: 10.1016/j.apsusc.2015.04.106
• 发表时间: 2015-09-15
• 期刊: APPLIED SURFACE SCIENCE
• 影响因子: 6.7
• 作者: Regoutz, A.;Egdell, R. G.;Scanlon, D. O.
• 通讯作者: Scanlon, D. O.

A fast and effective method for N-doping TiO2 by post treatment with liquid ammonia: visible light photocatalysis

• DOI: 10.1016/j.tsf.2014.04.067
• 发表时间: 2014-07-01
• 期刊: THIN SOLID FILMS
• 影响因子: 2.1
• 作者: Powell, Michael J.;Palgrave, Robert G.;Parkin, Ivan P.
• 通讯作者: Parkin, Ivan P.