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Indium nitride (InN) is a promising photoelectrode material for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting due to its strong light absorption capability, excellent electron mobility and direct band gap. However, the severe re-joining of the carrier in bulk or surface hinders the application of InN nanomaterials. Therefore, an InN nanorod/Ni(OH)2 heterojunction for PEC water splitting with enhanced interfacial charge transfer under a biased voltage was constructed first. In this case, the Ni(OH)2 catalyst not only has excellent electrocatalytic properties, but also can eliminate the surface state of the InN nanorods within a certain range. The improved InN/Ni(OH)2 photoelectrodes show that the photocurrent density of 4.43 mA cm−2, was 16 times higher than that of the pure InN nanorods (0.27 mA cm−2) at the same potential. Its applied bias photon-to-current efficiency (ABPE) at 0.92 V vs. Ag/AgCl was 6.92% with a 43-fold increase when compared to InN (0.16%). The work reported here, supplies practical and effective ideas to construct an InN-based nanorod heterojunction, thereby enhancing the redox reaction dynamics of the PEC water splitting in alkaline pH electrolyte. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foam-like MoO2 assembled from nanoparticles was fabricated by a solution combustion synthesis method using hexaammonium molybdate, ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3) and glycine as the precursors. The effect of the glycine/NH4NO3 ratio (Φ = 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1.0 and 1.25) on the physicochemical properties of the final products was systematically studied. The Φ value was found to display significant roles in the final phases and morphologies of the products. With a Φ value of 0.50, the foam-like product consisting of MoO2 nanoparticles with an average size of about 20–30 nm was synthesized. The photocatalytic activities of the foam-like MoO2 towards degradation of several contaminants, including methyl orange (MO), methylene blue (MB), rhodamine B (Rh B) and phenol, were investigated. The foam-like MoO2 offered excellent capability and stability toward photocatalytic degradation of the studied contaminants. The results reported here demonstrated that rational design of MoO2-based photocatalysts might be able to improve their properties in energy conversion and environmental preservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, one-dimensional W18O49 nanopowders were fabricated by a one-step solution combustion method using glycine as the fuel and a metal acid radical ion as the metal source. The morphologies and non-stoichiometric single-crystal phase of W18O49 can be controlled by changing the amount of the fuel. The nanoneedles had a large amount of defects such as oxygen vacancies. This characteristic resulted in an excellent visible light-driven photocatalytic performance that took about 50 min to degrade methylene blue (100 mL; 40 mg L−1) under visible light. The interesting reaction mechanism of such needle-like W18O49 and the photocatalytic mechanism are studied in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, one-dimensional W18O49 nanopowders were fabricated by a one-step solution combustion method using glycine as the fuel and a metal acid radical ion as the metal source. The morphologies and non-stoichiometric single-crystal phase of W18O49 can be controlled by changing the amount of the fuel. The nanoneedles had a large amount of defects such as oxygen vacancies. This characteristic resulted in an excellent visible light-driven photocatalytic performance that took about 50 min to degrade methylene blue (100 mL; 40 mg L−1) under visible light. The interesting reaction mechanism of such needle-like W18O49 and the photocatalytic mechanism are studied in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]