• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.208-218
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• 2023

Photocatalysts are advanced materials which accelerate the photoreaction by providing ordinary reactions with other pathways. The catalysts have various advantages, such as low-cost, low operating temperature and pressure, and long-term use. They are applied to environmental and energy field, including the air and water purification, water splitting for hydrogen production, sterilization and self-cleaning surfaces. However, commercial photocatalysts only absorb ultraviolet light between 100 and 400 nm of wavelength which comprises only 5% in sunlight due to the wide band gap. In addition, rapid recombination of electron-hole pairs reduces the photocatalytic performance. Recently, studies on blackening photocatalysts by laser, thermal, and plasma treatments have been conducted to enhance the absorption of visible light and photocatalytic activity. The disordered structures could yield mid-gap states and vacancies could cause charge carrier trapping. Herein, liquid phase plasma (LPP) is adopted to synthesize Ag-doped black ZnO for the utilization of visible-light. The physical and chemical characteristics of the synthesized photocatalysts are analyzed by SEM/EDS, XRD, XPS and the optical properties of them are investigated using UV/Vis DRS and PL analyses. Lastly, the photocatalytic activity was evaluated using methylene blue as a pollutant.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.1137-1144
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• 2013

$TiO_2$ composites with seven different carbon materials (activated carbons, graphite, carbon fibers, single-walled carbon nanotubes, multi-walled carbon nanotubes, graphene oxides, and reduced graphene oxides) that are virgin or treated with nitric acid are prepared through an evaporation method. The photocatalytic activities of the as-prepared samples are evaluated in terms of $H_2$ production from aqueous methanol solution (photo-catalytic reduction: PCR) and degradation of aqueous pollutants (phenol, methylene blue, and rhodamine B) (photocatalytic oxidation: PCO) under AM 1.5-light irradiation. Despite varying effects depending on the kinds of carbon materials and their surface treatment, composites typically show enhanced PCR activity with maximum 50 times higher $H_2$ production as compared to bare $TiO_2$. Conversely, the carbon-induced synergy effects on PCO activities are insignificant for all three substrates. Colorimetric quantification of hydroxyl radicals supports the absence of carbon effects. However, platinum deposition on the binary composites displays the enhanced effect on both PCR and PCO reactions. These differing effects of carbon materials on PCR and PCO reactions of $TiO_2$ are discussed in terms of physicochemical properties of carbon materials, coupling states of $TiO_2$/carbon composites, interfacial charge transfers. Various surface characterizations of composites (UV-Vis diffuse reflectance, SEM, FTIR, surface area, electrical conductivity, and photoluminescence) are performed to gain insight on their photocatalytic redox behaviors.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.56 no.2
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• pp.137-146
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• 2023

Nanosized TiO₂ has been widely investigated in photoelectrochemical or photocatalytic applications due to their intrinsic properties such as suitable band position, high photocorrosion resistance, and surface area. In this study, to achieve the high efficiency in photoelectrochemical and photocatalytic performance, TiO₂ nanotubular structures were formed by anodization at various temperatures and times. The morphological and crystal structure of the anodized TiO₂ nanotubes (NTs) were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The photoelectrochemical (PEC) properties and incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency (IPCE) of the TiO₂ NTs were studied with different lengths and morphologies. From the detailed investigations, the optimum thickness of TiO₂ nanotubes was 3 ㎛. Moreover, we found that the optimum photocatalytic pollutant removal efficiency of TiO₂ nanotubes for photodegradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) under simulated solar light was 5.34 ㎛ of tube length.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.99-102
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• 2009

$TiO_2$ nanotube arraysdecorated with ${\alpha}-Fe_2O_3$ were prepared by forming a nanotube-like $TiO_2$ film on a Ti sheet using an anodization process, followed by electrochemical deposition treatment to decorate hematite (${\alpha}-Fe_2O_3$) nanoparticles on the $TiO_2$ nanotube arrays. The SEM and XRD results revealed that the ${\alpha}-Fe_2O_3$ nanoparticles were homogeneously embedded on the surface of the $TiO_2$ nanotube arrays. The activity of hydrogen production by photocatalytic water decomposition for the ${\alpha}-Fe_2O_3/TiO_2$ nanotube array composite was examined under visible light irradiation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.02a
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• pp.284-284
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• 2010

Currently, hydrogen has been produced by Steam Reforming or partial oxidation reforming processes mainly from oil, coal, and natural gas and results in the production of $CO_2$. However, these are influenced greatly on the green house effect of the earth. so it is important to find the new way to produce hydrogen utilizing water without producing any environmentally harmful by-products. In our research, we use microwave water plasma and photocatalyst to improve dissociation rate of water. At low pressure plasma, electron have high energy but density is low, so temperature of reactor is low. This may cause of recombination in the generated hydrogen and oxygen from splitting water. If it want to high dissociation rate of water, it is necessary to control of recombination of the hydrogen and oxygen using photocatalyst. We utilize the photocatalytic material($TiO_2$, ZnO) coated plasma reactor to use UV in the plasma. The quantity of hydrogen generated was measured by a Residual Gas Analyzer.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.259-266
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• 2021

The (Ga_1-xZn_x)(N_1-xO_x) solid solution is attracting extensive attention for photocatalytic water splitting and wastewater treatment owing to its narrow and controllable band gap. To optimize the photocatalytic performance of the solid solution, the key points are to decrease its band gap and recombination rate. In this study, (Ga_1-xZn_x)(N_1-xO_x) nanofibers with various Zn fractions are prepared by electrospinning followed by calcination and nitridation. The effect of the composition and crystallinity of electrospun oxide nanofibers on the morphology and optical properties of the obtained solid-solution nanofibers are systematically investigated. The results show that the final shape of the (Ga_1-xZn_x) (N_1-xO_x) material is greatly affected by the crystallinity of the oxide nanofibers before nitridation. The photocatalytic properties of (Ga_1-xZn_x)(N_1-xO_x) with different Ga:Zn atomic ratios are investigated by studying the degradation of rhodamine B under visible light irradiation.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.331-335
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• 2008

The purpose of this study is to characterize the photo-catalytic efficiency of $TiO_2$ nanotube with respect to the distribution of anatase phase which can be changed by the annealing temperature of $TiO_2$ nanotube. $TiO_2$ nanotube was fabricated by the anodization method in the 0.5 wt% HF electrolyte. And then the $TiO_2$ nanotube was annealed at temperatures ranging from $380^{\circ}C$ to $780^{\circ}C$ in dry oxygen ambient for 2 h. For the photo-catalytic water-splitting tests, the photocurrent density was measured as a function of applied potential with a potentiostat using a Ag/AgCl reference, Pt counter electrode, and 1 M KOH electrolyte under illumination of UV by a Xe arc lamp of 1 KW. According to the UV photo-catalytic water-splitting tests, the nanotube annealed at $560^{\circ}C$ was found to show the highest photocurrent density.

• Clean Technology
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.355-359
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• 2012

For effectively photochemical hydrogen production, Ti ions (0.01, 0.10, 0.50 mol%) impregnated $WO_3$ ($Ti/WO_3$) nanometer sized particles were prepared using a impregnation method as a photocatalyst. The characteristics of the synthesized $Ti/WO_3$ photocatalysts were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), photoluminescence spectra (PL), atomic force microscope (AFM), and electrostatic force microscope (EFM). The evolution of $H_2$ from methanol/water (1/1) photo-splitting over $Ti/WO_3$ photocatalysts was enhanced compared to those over pure $TiO_2$ and $WO_3$ photocatalysts; 3.02 mL of $H_2$ gas was evolved after 8 h when 0.5 g of a 0.10 mol% $Ti/WO_3$ catalyst was used.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2016.11a
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• pp.59-75
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• 2016

Reduced or black $TiO_{2-x}$ materials with oxygen-deficiency have been achieved by creating oxygen vacancies and/or defects at the surface using different methods. Fascinatingly, they exhibited an extended absorption in VIS and IR instead of only UV light with bandgap decrease from 3.2 (anatase) to ~1 eV. However, despite the dramatic enhancement of optical absorption in black $TiO_{2-x}$ materials, they have failed to show expected visible light-assisted water splitting efficiency. This was ascribed to the high concentration of the surface defects and/or oxygen vacancies, considered as an electron donor to enhance donor density and improve the charge transportation in black $TiO_2$ can also act as charge recombination centers, which eventually decrease photocatalytic activity. Therefore, a black ot reducd $TiO_2$ material with optimized properties would be highly desired for visible light photocatalysis. In this report, a new controlled magnesiothermic reduction has been developed to synthesize reduced black $TiO_{2-x}$ in the presence $H_2/Ar$ for photocatalytic $H_2$ production from methanol-water system. The material possesses an optimum band gap and band position, oxygen vacancies, and surface defects and shows significantly improved optical absorption in the visible and infrared region. The synergistic effects enable the reduced $TiO_{2-x}$ material to show an excellent hydrogen production ability along with long-term stability under the full solar wavelength range of light and visible light, respectively, in the methanol-water system in the presence of Pt as a co-catalyst. These values are superior to those of previously reported black $TiO_2$ materials. On the basis of all the results, it can be realized that the outstanding activity and stability of the reduced of $TiO_{2-x}$ NPs suggest that a balanced combination of different factors like $Ti^{3+}$, surface defects, oxygen vacancy, and recombination center is achieved along with optimized bandgap and band position during the preparation employing magnesiothermic reduction in the presence of $H_2$. The controlled magnesiothermic reduction in the presence of $H_2$ is one of the best alternative ways to produce active and stable $TiO_2-based$ photocatalyst for $H_2$ production.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.513-517
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• 2013

This study focused on the synthesis of $Nb_xSrTi_{1-x}O_3$ photocatalysts which partially inserted Nb ions with excellent ability of fluorescence into the perovskite structured $SrTiO_3$ frameworks and their photocatalytic hydrogen productions from methanol/water splitting corresponding to the molar ratios of Ti and Nb. The characteristics of the synthesized $SrTiO_3$ and $Nb_xSrTi_{1-x}O_3$ powders were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDS), and UV-Visible spectrometer. The hydrogen evolution from methanol/water photo-splitting was enhanced over $Nb_{0.05}SrTi_{0.95}O_3$ compared to those over $SrTiO_3$ and another $Nb_xSrTi_{1-x}O_3$; 4.9 mL of hydrogen gases was collected after 8 h when 0.5g of $Nb_{0.05}SrTi_{0.95}O_3$ catalyst was used in pH 10.