• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.223-229
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• 2019

Titania modified by 2-ethylimidazole (2-EI) (denoted as $2-EI-TiO_2$) demonstrated visible light photocatalytic activity for the degradation of organic compounds. $2-EI-TiO_2$ was a bright brown powder that exhibited similar crystallinity and morphology with the control $TiO_2$. A diffuse reflectance spectrum indicated that $2-EI-TiO_2$ absorbs visible light of all wavelengths. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) confirmed the cationic state of nitrogen species (e.g. Ti-O-N) on the surface of $2-EI-TiO_2$. Visible light-illuminated $2-EI-TiO_2$ degraded $10{\mu}M$ 4-chlorophenol (4-CP) by approximately 85% in 4 h. The photochemical activity of $2-EI-TiO_2$ was selective in targeting the organic compound. The repeated use of $2-EI-TiO_2$ decreased the photocatalytic activity for the 4-CP degradation. Experiments using radical scavengers and oxidant probes revealed that the oxidation by photogenerated holes is responsible for the degradation of organic compounds by illuminated $2-EI-TiO_2$ and the role of $^{\bullet}OH$ is negligible.

• Rapid Communication in Photoscience
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.9-17
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• 2013

Visible light-sensitive $TiO_2$ and ZnO nanostructure materials have attracted great attention as the promising material for solar energy conversion systems such as photocatalysts for water splitting and environmental purification as well as nano-biosensors. Success of their applications relies on how to control their surface state behaviors related to the exciton dynamics and optoelectronic properties. In this paper, we briefly review some recent works on single nanoparticle photoluminescence (PL) technique and its application to observation of their surface state behaviors which are raveled by the conventional ensemble-averaged spectroscopic techniques. This review provides an opportunity to understand the temporal and spatial heterogeneities within an individual nanostructure, allowing for the potential use of single-nanoparticle approaches in studies of their photoenergy conversion and nano-scale optical biosensing.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.58 no.3
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• pp.486-492
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• 2020

The method for preparing a perovskite-type bismuth ferrite (BFO) photocatalyst which reacts to visible LED light and the characteristics of visible light photocatalysis were investigated. BFO was prepared according to the sol-gel method. The prepared BFO consisted mainly of BiFeO₃ structure and formed a nano-sized crystal including Bi₂₄Fe₂O₃₉ structure. The BFO nano crystallines were identified from the UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectra to absorb UV and visible light up to about 600 nm. The bandgap of the BFO determined from the diffuse reflectance spectrum was about 2.2 eV. Formaldehyde was decomposed by the photoreaction of BFO photocatalysts with the visible light LED lamps with wavelengths of 585 nm and 613 nm. The narrow bandgap of BFO led to elicit BFO photocatalytic activity in visible LED light.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.19 no.10
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• pp.555-561
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• 2009

Expanded graphite (EG) is synthesized by chemical intercalation of natural graphite (NG) and rapid expansion at high temperature, with titanium n-butoxide (TNB) used as titanium source by a sol-gel method to prepare EG-TiO$_2$ composite. The performances of the prepared EG-TiO$_2$ composite are characterized by BET surface area measurement, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction patterns (XRD) and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX). To compare the photocatalytic activities of the EG-TiO$_2$ composite, three kinds of dye solutions, methylene blue (MB), methylene orange (MO) and rhodamine B (RhB), and two kinds of light source, UV light and visible light (VL), are used. Comparing the results, it can be clearly seen that the degradation of all of the dye solutions under irradiation by UV light is much better than that under irradiation by visible light, and the decomposition of MB solution was better than that of both of MO and RhB solution.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.95-99
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• 2011

$CaTi_{1-x}Fe_xO_3(0{\leq}x{\leq}0.4)$ solid solution photocatalysts were synthesized by iron doping during the conventional solid state reaction at $1100^{\circ}C$ for 5 h and characterized by ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) absorption spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, morphological analysis. We found that $CaTi_{1-x}Fe_xO_3$ samples not only absorb UV but also the visible light photons. This is because the Fe substitution at Ti-site in $CaTi_{1-x}Fe_xO_3$ lattice induces the band transition from Fe3d to the Fe3d + Ti3d hybrid orbital. The photocatalytic activity of Fe doped $CaTiO_3$ samples for hydrogen production under UV light irradiation decreased with the increase in the Fe concentration. There exists an optimized concentration of iron in $CaTiO_3$, which yields a maximum photocatalytic activity under visible light ($\lambda\geq420nm$) photons.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.433-438
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• 2011

In this study, CdS combined activated carbon/$TiO_2$ (CdS-AC/$TiO_2$) composites were prepared by a sol-gel method to improve the photocatalytic performance of $TiO_2$. These composites were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) and UV-vis analysis. The photocatalytic activities were examined by the degradation of methylene blue (MB) under visible light irradiation. The photodegradation rate of MB under visible light irradiation reached 90.1% in 120 min. The kinetics of MB degradation was plotted alongside the values calculated from the Langmuir-Hinshelwood equation. The 0.2 CAT sample showed the best photocatalytic activity, which might be due to an increase in the photo-absorption effect by activated carbon and the cooperative effect of CdS.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.33 no.11
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• pp.3691-3695
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• 2012

Photocatalytic reduction of hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) in ferric-tartrate system under irradiation of visible light was investigated. Effects of light resources, initial pH value and initial concentration of various reactants on Cr(VI) photocatalytic reduction were studied. Photoreaction kinetics was discussed and a possible photochemical pathway was proposed. The results indicate that Fe(III)-tartrate system is able to rapidly and effectively photocatalytically reduce Cr(VI) utilizing visible light. Initial pH variations resulte in the concentration changes of Fe(III)-tartrate complex in this system, and pH at 3.0 is optimal for Cr(VI) photocatalytic reduction. Efficiency of Cr(VI) photocatalytic reduction increases with increasing initial concentrations of Cr(VI), Fe(III) and tartrate. Kinetics analysis indicates that initial Fe(III) concentration affects Cr(VI) photoreduction most significantly.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.53 no.6
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• pp.665-669
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• 2016

$TiO_2/BiVO_4$ layered films were prepared by sol-gel and spin coating methods. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Uv-vis spectroscopy were used to investigate the crystal structure, morphology and ultraviolet-visible absorption of the $TiO_2/BiVO_4$ films. The photocatalytic activity of the prepared films was inspected according to the degradation of methylene blue. The results show that the prepared films present a net chain structure; the absorption band edge had obvious red shift. The degradation of the methylene blue solution was about 80% after 300 mins using $TiO_2/BiVO_4$ layered films under visible light, which was stronger than when using only pure $TiO_2$ film and $BiVO_4$ film.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.1110-1116
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• 2014

The cuprous oxide cubes with the special porous surface constructed by nano-prisms have been successfully fabricated by a solvothermal method. The template-free method is simple and facile without any surfactant. The X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) pattern suggests that the as-prepared product is the pure primitive cubic $Cu_2O$. The effects of the experimental parameters, such as the reaction temperature, reaction time and the concentration of sodium acetate anhydrous, on the morphologies of the products were investigated in detail by the scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Based on the time-dependent experiments, the possible formation mechanism was proposed. Using photocatalytic degrading reactive dyes as the model reaction and xenon lamp to simulate sunlight, the $Cu_2O$ cubes with the porous surface might possess higher photocatalytic activity than those of the commercial $Cu_2O$ powder in the visible-light region, indicating the excellent photocatalytic performance.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2002.07b
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• pp.1116-1120
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• 2002

Using thermal hydrolysis and hydrothermal treatment, photocatalytic $TiO_2$ powders were synthesized. During the synthesis, the addition of other transition metals such as iron, copper, etc., affected the photocatalytic capability of synthesized powders, and enabled the activation by visible light. To enhance photocatalytic capacity of gas phase decomposition, the rate-determining adsorption rate of pollutant gases were improved via surface modification of $TiO_2$ powders. The surface modifiers were implanted using mechanochemical synthesis of dopants and photocatalytic powders.