Along with the development of industry and the improvement of people’s living standards, peoples’ demand on resources has greatly increased, causing energy crises and environmental pollution. In recent years, photocatalytic technology has shown great potential as a low-cost, environmentally-friendly, and sustainable technology, and it has become a hot research topic. However, current photocatalytic technology cannot meet industrial requirements. The biggest challenge in the industrialization of photocatalyst technology is the development of an ideal photocatalyst, which should possess four features, including a high photocatalytic efficiency, a large specific surface area, a full utilization of sunlight, and recyclability. In this review, starting from the photocatalytic reaction mechanism and the preparation of the photocatalyst, we review the classification of current photocatalysts and the methods for improving photocatalytic performance; we also further discuss the potential industrial usage of photocatalytic technology. This review also aims to provide basic and comprehensive information on the industrialization of photocatalysis technology.

Poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) ultrafine fibers with different proportions of multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) embedded have been fabricated using a modified electrospinning device with a rotating collector. With the increasing of MWCNT content, the β phase was noticeable enhanced, and the fibers became more elastic, which was manifested by Young's modulus decreased drastically. Furthermore, with adding the amounts of MWCNTs, the density of carbon nanotube (CNT)-CNT junctions among the fibers increased accordingly. When the MWCNT content was of 1.2 wt.%, a stable three-dimensional conducting network was formed. After this percolation threshold, the density of CNT-CNT junctions among the fibers tended to be a constant quantity, leading to a stabilized conductivity consequently. It is hoped that our results can be helpful for the fabrication of flexible devices, piezoelectric devices, force transducer, and so on. 81.05.Qk; 81.16.-c

The cubic garnet Li₇La₃Zr₂O₁₂ (c-LLZO) is one of the most promising solid electrolytes due to its high ionic conductivity and large electrochemical window. However, the critical issue of Li₂CO₃ formation on the c-LLZO surface when exposed to air is problematic, which is detrimental to the ionic conductivity and storage. Herein, comparative studies were carried out on the air stability of Al-doped Li₇La₃Zr₂O₁₂ (Al-LLZO), Al-Ta-doped Li₇La₃Zr₂O₁₂ (Al-LLZTO), and Al-Nb-doped Li₇La₃Zr₂O₁₂ (Al-LLZNO). It was found that Al-LLZTO and Al-LLZNO are less reactive with air than Al-LLZO. The morphology of Li₂CO₃ on Al-LLZTO micro-sized powders after air exposure was island-like with ~1.5 μm in thickness. The interfacial resistance of Li/Al-LLZTO was also a factor of ~3 smaller than that of Li/Al-LLZO, leading to the improved cycle stability of Li/Al-LLZTO/Li symmetric cells. The first-principles calculations based on density functional theory (DFT) verified that the decomposition energy of Al-LLZTO was larger than that of Al-LLZO, inhibiting the reaction product of Li₂O and, thus, the next step product of Li₂CO₃ following the reactions of Li₂O + H₂O → LiOH and LiOH + CO₂ → Li₂CO₃.

We report the fabrication of polyvinylidene fluoride (tetrabutyl titanate)/polyvinyl pyrrolidone ((tetrabutyl titanate))-graphene quantum dots [PVDF(TBT)/PVP(TBT)-GQDs] film photocatalyst with enhanced photocatalytic performance. The polyvinylidene fluoride (tetrabutyl titanate)/polyvinyl pyrrolidone ((tetrabutyl titanate)) [PVDF(TBT)/PVP(TBT)] film was first prepared with a dual-electrospinning method and then followed by attaching graphene quantum dots (GQDs) to the surface of the composite film through a hydrothermal method. Later, part of the PVP in the composite film was dissolved by a hydrothermal method. As a result, a PVDF(TBT)/PVP(TBT)-GQDs film photocatalyst with a larger specific surface area was achieved. The photocatalytic degradation behavior of the PVDF(TBT)/PVP(TBT)-GQDs film photocatalyst was examined by using Rhodamine B as the target contaminant. The PVDF(TBT)/PVP(TBT)-GQDs photocatalyst showed a higher photocatalytic efficiency than PVDF(TBT)-H₂O, PVDF(TBT)/PVP(TBT)-H₂O, and PVDF(TBT)-GQDs, respectively. The enhanced photocatalytic efficiency can be attributed to the broader optical response range of the PVDF(TBT)/PVP(TBT)-GQDs photocatalyst, which makes it useful as an effective photocatalyst under white light irradiation.

A two-dimensional perovskite photonic crystal structure of Methylamine lead iodide (CH₃NH₃PbI₃, MAPbI₃) is rationally designed as the absorption layer for solar cells. The photonic crystal (PC) structure possesses the distinct “slow light” and band gap effect, leading to the increased absorption efficiency of the absorption layer, and thus the increased photoelectric conversion efficiency of the battery. Simulation results indicate that the best absorption efficiency can be achieved when the scattering element of indium arsenide (InAs) cylinder is arranged in the absorption layer in the form of tetragonal lattice with the height of 0.6 μm, the diameter of 0.24 μm, and the lattice constant of 0.4 μm. In the wide wavelength range of 400–1200 nm, the absorption efficiency can be reached up to 82.5%, which is 70.1% higher than that of the absorption layer without the photonic crystal structure. In addition, the absorption layer with photonic crystal structure has good adaptability to the incident light angle, presenting the stable absorption efficiency of 80% in the wide incident range of 0–80°. The results demonstrate that the absorption layer with photonic crystal structure can realize the wide spectrum, wide angle, and high absorption of incident light, resulting in the increased utilization efficiency of solar energy.