Recently, the combination of the piezoelectric effect in the photocatalytic process, referred to as piezo-photocatalysis, has gained considerable attention as a promising approach for enhancing the degradation of organic pollutants. In this investigation, we studied the piezo-photocatalysis by fabricating arrays of barium strontium titanate (Ba0.7Sr0.3TiO3) nanorods (BST NRs) on a glass substrate as recoverable catalysts. We found that the degradation rate constant k of the rhodamine B solution achieved 0.0447 min-1 using poled BST NRs in the piezo-photocatalytic process, indicating a 2-fold increase in efficiency compared to the photocatalytic process (0.00183 min-1) utilizing the same material. This is mainly ascribed to the generation of the piezopotential in the poled BST NRs under ultrasonic vibration. Moreover, the BST NR array demonstrated a hydrogen (H2) production rate of 411.5 μmol g-1 h-1. In the photoelectrochemical process, the photocurrent density of poled BST NRs achieved 1.97 mA cm-2 at an applied potential of 1.23 V (ERHE (reversible hydrogen electrode)) under ultrasonic vibrations, representing a 1.7-fold increase compared with the poled BST NRs without ultrasonic vibrations. The measurement results from the liquid chromatograph mass spectrometer (LC-MS) demonstrated the formulation of a degradation pathway for rhodamine B molecules. Moreover, ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulation results demonstrate the dominance of hydroxyl radicals (•OH) rather than superoxide radicals (•O2-) in the degradation process. This study not only benefits the understanding of the principle of the piezo-photocatalytic process but also provides a new perspective for improving the catalytic efficiency for organic pollutants degradation.
Tantal auf Siliciums Spuren: SiO2/Ta2O5-Kern-Schale-Nanostrukturen wurden durch die Reduktion von SiO2-Nanodrähten in einer Ta-Atmosphäre bei 950 °C erhalten. Der Durchmesser der SiO2-Nanodrähte in den Nanostrukturen ist über die Reduktionsdauer steuerbar. In verdünnten HF-Lösungen verblieben von den Kern-Schale-Strukturen nur Ta2O5-Nanoröhren (siehe TEM-Bild), wohingegen längere Reduktionsdauern direkt zu Ta2O5-Nanodrähten führten.
The 3rd International Photonics and OptoElectronics Meeting (POEM 2010) was held from November 2–5, 2011, in Wuhan, China.
Abstract To meet future needs for clean and sustainable energy, tremendous progress has been achieved in development for scavenging wind energy. The most classical approach is to use the electromagnetic effect based wind turbine with a diameter of larger than 50 m and a weight of larger than 50 ton, and each of them could cost more than $0.5 M, which can only be installed in remote areas. Alternatively, triboelectric nanogenerators based on coupling of contact‐electrification and electrostatic induction effects have been utilized to scavenge wind energy, which takes the advantages of high voltage, low cost, and small size. Here, the development of a wind‐driven triboelectric nanogenerator by focusing on triboelectric materials optimization, structure improvement, and hybridization with other types of energy harvesting techniques is reviewed. Moreover, the major applications are summarized and the challenges that are needed to be addressed and development direction for scavenging wind energy in future are highlighted.