Hybrid materials photocatalysts based on conjugated polymers and inorganic semiconductors provide a sustainable way to remove pollutants or store energy in the form of solar fuels by processes such as water splitting, CO₂photoreduction and NH₃production (artificial photosynthesis).

Sunlight plays a critical role in the development of emerging sustainable energy conversion and storage technologies. Light-induced CO₂ reduction by artificial photosynthesis is one of the cornerstones to produce renewable fuels and environmentally friendly chemicals. Interface interactions between plasmonic metal nanoparticles and semiconductors exhibit improved photoactivities under a wide range of the solar spectrum. However, the photo-induced charge transfer processes and their influence on photocatalysis with these materials are still under debate, mainly due to the complexity of the involved routes occurring at different timescales. Here, we use a combination of advanced in situ and time-resolved spectroscopies covering different timescales, combined with theoretical calculations, to unravel the overall mechanism of photocatalytic CO₂ reduction by Ag/TiO₂ catalysts. Our findings provide evidence of the key factors determining the enhancement of photoactivity under ultraviolet and visible irradiation, which have important implications for the design of solar energy conversion materials.

The isolation of graphene and transition metal dichalcongenides has opened a veritable world to a great number of layered materials which can be exfoliated, manipulated, and stacked or combined at will. With continued explorations expanding to include other layered materials with unique attributes, it is becoming clear that no one material will fill all the post-silicon era requirements. Here we review the properties and applications of layered, quasi-1D transition metal trichalcogenides (TMTCs) as novel materials for next generation electronics and optoelectronics. The TMTCs present a unique chain-like structure which gives the materials their quasi-1D properties such as high anisotropy ratios in conductivity and linear dichroism. The range of band gaps spanned by this class of materials (0.2 eV–2 eV) makes them suitable for a wide variety of applications including field-effect transistors, infrared, visible and ultraviolet photodetectors, and unique applications related to their anisotropic properties which opens another degree of freedom in the development of next generation electronics. In this review we survey the historical development of these remarkable materials with an emphasis on the recent activity generated by the isolation and characterization of atomically thin titanium trisulfide (TiS ₃ ).