Preparation and Photocatalysis of CuO/Bentonite Based on Adsorption and Photocatalytic Activity

A CuO/bentonite composite photocatalyst was prepared to fully utilize the adsorption capacity of bentonite and the photocatalytic activity of CuO. CuO and bentonite were chosen as a photocatalyst due to the excellent optical property of CuO and large specific surface area of bentonite, together with their high stability and low production cost. The sample was characterized by XRD, SEM, and BET. The effects of several factors on degradation process were investigated such as dosage of H2O2, irradiation time, pH of the solution, and dosage of catalyst. The optimum conditions for decolorization of methylene blue solution by CuO/bentonite were determined. Under optimal conditions, the decolorization efficiency of methylene blue by a 1.4% CuO/bentonite (400 °C) composite photocatalyst under visible irradiation at 240 min reached 96.98%. The degradation process follow edpseudo-second-order kinetics. The photocatalytic mechanism is discussed in detail. This composite structure provides a new solution to the cycle and aggregation of the photocatalyst in water.

High transport and excellent optical property of a two-dimensional single-layered hybrid perovskite (C4H9NH3)2PbBr4: a theoretical study

Organic–inorganic hybrid perovskites are developed to pursue high charge carrier mobility and light absorption coefficient.

Controlled Growth of ZnSe Nanocrystals by Tuning Reactivity and Amount of Zinc Precursor

Zinc selenide (ZnSe) nanocrystals were synthesized via a phosphine-free route using the highly reactive alkylamine-H2Se complex as selenium precursor and zinc precursors with different reactivity. The reactivity of zinc precursor was tuned by using three kinds of zinc carboxylates with different alkyl chain lengths, including zinc acetate, zinc nonanoate, and zinc stearate. The effect of the reactivity and the amount of zinc precursor on nucleation and growth of ZnSe nanocrystals were investigated by ultraviolet-visible absorption and photoluminescence spectra. Result indicates that the growth and optical property of the resulting ZnSe nanocrystals are strongly dependent on the alkyl chain length and the amount of the zinc carboxylates and both shorter alkyl chain length, and more amount of zinc carboxylate will lead to faster growth of ZnSe nanocrystals. This allows that the controlled growth and excellent optical property of high-quality ZnSe nanocrystals can be achieved by combining the different reactivity and the used amount of zinc precursor, such as by using stoichiometric and reactive Zn precursor and Se precursor or by using larger amount of more unreactive Zn precursor relative to the highly reactive alkylamine-H2Se complex precursor.