Erbium lanthanum titanate glasses were prepared by levitation melting for the spectroscopic study of ways to promote the mid-infrared fluorescence. Two series of heavily erbium doped glasses (15 wt%) were prepared with the addition of either Pr3+or Nd3+in amounts relative to Er3+of 0.05, 0.1, and 0.2. Both ions quench the lower Er3+laser level with the Pr3+doing so more rapidly. Although high co-dopant concentrations result in higher energy transfer, as clearly evidenced in upconversion and downconversion fluorescence measurements, the mid-infrared lifetime also suffers a reduction and, therefore, a balance must be struck in the co-dopant concentration. Lifetime and spectral measurements indicate that, at a fixed relative co-dopant amount, Pr3+is more effective than Nd3+at removing the bottleneck of the Er3+ 4
In this study, Mg2+‐doped mesoporous TiO2photocatalysts derived from Mg2+adsorption (MA) process on MIL‐125, a metal‐organic framework material, were prepared and employed for photocatalytic reduction of CO2to produce CO. The Mg2+doping concentration was controlled by varying the Mg2+concentration in the Mg2+adsorption process. It was demonstrated that the Mg2+doping promoted the generation of surface Ti3+and significantly increased transient photocurrent density. Over a 4 h UV/Vis irradiation period, the best performing photocatalyst, 1MA, delivered a CO production rate ∼20 times higher than that of P25, a commercially available TiO2nanopowder. It is believed that the Mg2+adsorption process introduced more favorable properties to the TiO2photocatalysts, such as higher surface area and porosity for more reactive sites, and concentrated surface Ti3+centers for improved charge transfer.
more » « less- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10239038
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- ChemPhotoChem
- Volume:
- 5
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 2367-0932
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- p. 79-89
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract It has been rarely reported the morphological control of derivatives of metal‐organic frameworks (MOFs) in hydrothermal conditions for photocatalytic applications. We report here a family of highly efficient composite photocatalysts composed of terephthalic acid/terephthalate (TPA) ligand and TiO2with various morphologies (e. g., nanoparticles, nanosheets, and nanorods). The composites are synthesized by a simple one‐step hydrothermal method in various solvents (i. e., H2O, HF, H2SO4, HCl, and HNO3) using Ti‐based MOF (MIL‐125(Ti)) as precursor. The formation mechanism of composite materials with different morphological features is discussed. Impressively, the composite of TiO2nanoparticles/TPA synthesized using H2O as solvent under hydrothermal condition exhibits the highest photocatalytic H2activity among the studied materials, with a photocatalytic H2production rate of 6.38 mmol g−1 h−1, which is approximately 7.5‐fold higher than pure TiO2(Degussa, P25) and prominent apparent quantum efficiency (AQE) of 65 % at 365 nm. Furthermore, the mechanism of boosted photocatalytic H2production is discussed.
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Abstract Nickel sulfide (Ni3S2) is a promising hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalyst by virtue of its metallic electrical conductivity and excellent stability in alkaline medium. However, the reported catalytic activities for Ni3S2are still relatively low. Herein, an effective strategy to boost the H adsorption capability and HER performance of Ni3S2through nitrogen (N) doping is demonstrated. N‐doped Ni3S2nanosheets achieve a fairly low overpotential of 155 mV at 10 mA cm−2and an excellent exchange current density of 0.42 mA cm−2in 1.0
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Only when the interfacial charge separation is enhanced and the CO 2 activation is improved, can the heterojunction nanocomposite photocatalyst be brought into full play for the CO 2 reduction reaction (CO 2 RR). Here, Er 3+ single atom composite photocatalysts were successfully constructed based on both the special role of Er 3+ single atoms and the special advantages of the SrTiO 3 :Er 3+ /g-C 3 N 4 heterojunction in the field of photocatalysis for the first time. As we expected, the SrTiO 3 :Er 3+ /g-C 3 N 4 (22.35 and 16.90 μmol g −1 h −1 for CO and CH 4 ) exhibits about 5 times enhancement in visible-light photocatalytic activity compared to pure g-C 3 N 4 (4.60 and 3.40 μmol g −1 h −1 for CO and CH 4 ). In particular, the photocatalytic performance of SrTiO 3 :Er 3+ /g-C 3 N 4 is more than three times higher than that of SrTiO 3 /g-C 3 N 4 . From Er 3+ fluorescence quenching measurements, photoelectrochemical studies, transient PL studies and DFT calculations, it is verified that a small fraction of surface doping of Er 3+ formed Er single-atoms on SrTiO 3 building an energy transfer bridge between the interface of SrTiO 3 and g-C 3 N 4 , resulting in enhanced interfacial charge separation. Aberration-corrected high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy (AC HAADF-STEM) and adsorption energy calculations demonstrated that the exposed Er single-atoms outside the interface on SrTiO 3 preferentially activate the adsorbed CO 2 , leading to the high photoactivity for the CO 2 RR. A novel enhanced photocatalytic mechanism was proposed, in which Er single-atoms play dual roles of an energy transfer bridge and activating CO 2 to promote charge separation. This provides new insights and feasible routes to develop highly efficient photocatalytic materials by engineering rare-earth single-atom doping.more » « less
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