Maocong Hu

Enhancement of Nitrite Reduction Kinetics on Electrospun Pd-Carbon Nanomaterial Catalysts for Water Purification

We report a facile synthesis method for carbon nanofiber (CNF) supported Pd catalysts via one-pot electrospinning and their application for nitrite hydrogenation. A mixture of Pd acetylacetonate (Pd(acac)2), polyacrylonitrile (PAN), and nonfunctionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) was electrospun and thermally treated to produce Pd/CNF-MWCNT catalysts. The addition of MWCNTs with a mass loading of 1.0-2.5 wt % (to PAN) significantly improved nitrite reduction activity compared to the catalyst without MWCNT addition. The results of CO chemisorption confirmed that the addition of MWCNTs increased Pd exposure on CNFs and hence improved catalytic activity.

Significant Enhancement of Photocatalytic Reduction of CO2 with H2O over ZnO by the Formation of Basic Zinc Carbonate

Electron-hole pair separation efficiency and adsorption performance of photocatalysts to CO2 are the two key factors affecting the performance of photocatalytic CO2 reduction with H2O. Distinct from conventional promoter addition, this study proposed a novel approach to address these two issues by tuning the own surface features of semiconductor photocatalyst. Three ZnO samples with different morphologies, surface area, and defect content were fabricated by varying preparation methods, characterized by XRD, TEM, and room-temperature PL spectra, and tested in photoreduction of CO2 with H2O. The results show that the as-prepared porous ZnO nanosheets exhibit a much higher activity for photoreduction of CO2 with H2O when compared to ZnO nanoparticles and nanorods attributed to the existence of more defect sites, that is, zinc and oxygen vacancies. These defects would lower the combination rate of electron-hole pair as well as promote the formation of basic zinc carbonate by Lewis acid-base interaction, which is the active intermediate species for photoreduction of CO2. ZnO nanoparticles and ZnO nanorods with few defects show weak adsorption for CO2 leading to the inferior photocatalytic activities. This work provides new insight on the CO2 activation under light irradiation.

Catalytic reduction for water treatment

AbstractTreating water contaminants via heterogeneously catalyzed reduction reaction is a subject of growing interest due to its good activity and superior selectivity compared to conventional technology, yielding products that are non-toxic or substantially less toxic. This article reviews the application of catalytic reduction as a progressive approach to treat different types of contaminants in water, which covers hydrodehalogenation for wastewater treatment and hydrogenation of nitrate/nitrite for groundwater remediation. For hydrodehalogenation, an overview of the existing treatment technologies is provided with an assessment of the advantages of catalytic reduction over the conventional methodologies. Catalyst design for feasible catalytic reactions is considered with a critical analysis of the pertinent literature. For hydrogenation, hydrogenation of nitrate/nitrite contaminants in water is mainly focused. Several important nitrate reduction catalysts are discussed relating to their preparation method and catalytic performance. In addition, novel approach of catalytic reduction using in situ synthesized H2 evolved from water splitting reaction is illustrated. Finally, the challenges and perspective for the extensive application of catalytic reduction technology in water treatment are discussed. This review provides key information to our community to apply catalytic reduction approach for water treatment.