Photocatalysis is a diverse field of study, bringing together research from a range of disciplines for a variety of applications. These include H2 production, water remediation, carbon dioxide processing, sterilization and decomposition of unwanted organic compounds. Titania (TiO2) is the most studied and used photo-catalyst, under UV-light electron-hole pairs are generated which in water produce hydroxyl radicals (.OH), these are the active species in a number of processes.
One of the major draw-backs in using titania is that UV light constitutes less than 5% of solar energy, if they could be tuned to operate under visible light they would be far more versatile and effective photocatalysts. This Hot Perspective from Ranjit Koodali’s group reviews the doping of these materials with Lanthanides, detailing the structure activity relationships and drawing some interesting conclusions.
All articles in Catalysis Science & Technology are free to access for 2012 so you can download this article today.
Lanthanide modified semiconductor photocatalysts
Amanda S. Weber, Anne M. Grady and Ranjit T. Koodali Catal. Sci. Technol., 2012, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C2CY00552B, Perspective
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