Solar-driven photocatalytic films : synthesis approaches, factors affecting environmental activity, and characterization features

Šuligoj, Andraž (author), Cerc Korošec, Romana (author), Žerjav, Gregor (author), Novak Tušar, Nataša (author), Lavrenčič Štangar, Urška (author)

Solar-powered photocatalysis has come a long way since its humble beginnings in the 1990s, producing more than a thousand research papers per year over the past decade. In this review, immobilized photocatalysts operating under sunlight are highlighted. First, a literature review of solar-driven films is presented, along with some fundamental operational differences in relation to reactions involving suspended nanoparticles. Common strategies for achieving sunlight activity from films are then described, including doping, surface grafting, semiconductor coupling, and defect engineering. Synthetic routes to fabricate photocatalytically active films are briefly reviewed, followed by the important factors that determine solar photocatalysis efficiency, such as film thickness and structure. Finally, some important and specific characterization methods for films are described. This review shows that there are two main challenges in the study of photocatalytic materials in the form of (thin) films. First, the production of stable and efficient solar-driven films is still a challenge that requires an integrated approach from synthesis to characterization. The second is the difficulty in properly characterizing films. In any case, the research community needs to address these, as solar-driven photocatalytic films represent a viable option for sustainable air and water purification.

• Language: English
• Keywords: degradation, efficiency, thickness, structure, characterization
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.02 - Review Article
• Organization: FKKT - Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2022
• Number of pages: 46 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 380, iss. 6, art. 51
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-154045
• UDC: 544.3/.4
• ISSN on article: 2364-8961
• DOI: 10.1007/s41061-022-00409-2
• COBISS.SI-ID: 124839939
• Publication date in RUL: 22.01.2024

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Topics in current chemistry
• Shortened title: Top. curr. chem.
• Publisher: Springer Nature
• ISSN: 2364-8961
• COBISS.SI-ID: 124833795

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: kataliza, fotokatalizatorji, sončna energija, nanodelci