Hongchao Yu

Facile synthesis of tetrahedral Ag3PO4 submicro-crystals with enhanced photocatalytic properties

Tetrahedral Ag3PO4 submicro-crystals have been fabricated in high-yield by directly reacting commercial Ag foils with H2O2 and NaH2PO4 in aqueous solution at room temperature, which exhibit higher photocatalytic activities than Ag3PO4 cubes, particles, and N-doped TiO2 for the degradation of organic contaminants under visible light irradiation.

Ion exchange synthesis of PAN/Ag3PO4 core-shell nanofibers with enhanced photocatalytic properties

PAN/Ag3PO4 core–shell hetero-nanofibers have been fabricated for the first time by combining electrospinning technology with ion exchange reaction, which exhibit much higher visible light driven photocatalytic activities for the degradation of organic contaminants than pure Ag3PO4 nanoparticles.

New facile synthesis of one-dimensional Ag@TiO2 anatase core-shell nanowires for enhanced photocatalytic properties

One-dimensional Ag@TiO2 anatase core–shell nanowires are fabricated through a hydrolysis reaction and subsequent thermal-induced method. This photocatalyst exhibits much higher photocatalytic activities than Ag nanowires and TiO2 anatase nanoparticles under visible-light irradiation.

Facile synthesis of hollow Ag@AgBr heterostructures with highly efficient visible-light photocatalytic properties

A hollow Ag@AgBr photocatalyst was obtained by a replacement reaction between Br− ions and solid Ag2CrO4 and a subsequent light-induced chemical reduction reaction. The photocatalyst exhibits very high photocatalytic activity for the degradation of organic contaminants under visible-light irradiation.

Fabrication of Ag3PO4–PAN composite nanofibers for photocatalytic applications

Necklace-like Ag3PO4–polyacrylonitrile (PAN) hetero-nanofibers have been successfully fabricated through a simple and facile electrospinning technique and exhibit excellent photocatalytic activities for the degradation of organic contaminants under visible light irradiation.

BiAg Alloy Nanospheres: A New Photocatalyst for H2 Evolution from Water Splitting

We demonstrate for the first time that Bi and BiAg alloy nanospheres, fabricated with a facile hydrothermal method, display evident photocatalytic H2 production activities. Element Bi can serve as an active photocatalyst for both water splitting and photoelectrochemical applications. More interestingly, these activities of Bi can be greatly enhanced by introducing Ag to form BiAg alloy nanoparticles, which may be ascribed to the improved charge separation and enlarged carrier concentration. The constituent of the BiAg alloy can be rationally tuned by varying the amount of Ag nanowires, and it is found that Bi0.7Ag0.3 exhibits the highest photoelectrochemical property.

Morphology modulation of SrTiO3/TiO2 heterostructures for enhanced photoelectrochemical performance.

Design and fabrication of nanoscale semiconductors with regulatable morphology or structure has attracted tremendous interest due to the dependency relationship between properties and architectures. Two types of SrTiO3/TiO2 nanocomposites with different morphologies and structures have been fabricated by controlling the kinetics of hydrothermal reactions. One is TiO2 nanotube arrays densely wrapped by SrTiO3 film and the other is SrTiO3 nanospheres distributed on the top region of TiO2 nanotube arrays, which has been firstly fabricated. It has been found that the photoelectrochemical performances of these heterostructures are crucially dominated by their architectures. Heterostructured SrTiO3/TiO2 nanotube arrays were fabricated by traditional method in the absence of NaOH and they exhibited higher photoelectrochemical performance than pure TiO2 nanotube arrays. However, the compact SrTiO3 coating film on the sidewalls of TiO2 nanotube arrays could inevitably destroy the tubular structures of TiO2 and thus go against the vectorial transport of electrons. Interestingly, when excess NaOH was added into the growth solution, SrTiO3 nanospheres would be rationally grafted on the top of TiO2 nanotube arrays, which could preserve the tubular structures of TiO2, and thus further improve the photoelectrochemical performance.

Tunable photocatalytic selectivity and stability of Ba-doped Ag3PO4 hollow nanosheets

Abstract A one-step cation exchange process has been applied for the first time to the fabrication of nanoporous Ba-doped Ag3PO4 hollow nanosheets using Ba3(PO4)2 as the starting material. The constituent-dependent changes in phase and morphology were investigated comprehensively to elucidate the nanosheet formation mechanism. The resultant Ba-doped Ag3PO4 hollow nanosheets exhibited much higher photocatalytic performance and photoconversion efficiency than Ag3PO4 cubes and spherical particles under visible light irradiation. More importantly, the photocatalyst exhibited unique preferential decomposition of methyl orange over rhodamine B and high photocatalytic stability under visible light irradiation.

Ultrathin BiVO4 nanobelts: controllable synthesis and improved photocatalytic oxidation of water

Ultrathin BiVO4 nanobelts with about 3 nm thickness have been firstly fabricated by a hydrothermal method. It has been discovered that these special nanostructures exhibit much higher photoelectric conversion efficiency as well as water splitting ability than commercial BiVO4 nanoparticles. It is believed that the one-dimensional ultrathin structure of BiVO4 nanobelts is of benefit for the separation and transmission of photoexcited electrons due to its short charge transfer pathway and favourable crystalline structure.

Facile synthesis of porous Ag3PO4 photocatalysts with high self-stability and activity

One-dimensional (1D) Ag3PO4 hollow porous microrods have been fabricated for the first time by using Ag2WO4 microrods as the Ag+ ion source and growth template, which exhibit substantively enhanced photocatalytic activity and stability for the degradation of organic contaminations compared with Ag3PO4 cubes and particles under visible light irradiation.