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Photons, Electrons and Holes: Fundamentals of Photocatalysis with Semiconductors

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Design of Advanced Photocatalytic Materials for Energy and Environmental Applications

Part of the book series: Green Energy and Technology ((GREEN))

Abstract

Although not all the heterogeneous photocatalysts are semiconductors, this type of solids represents, by far, the most representative and widely investigated photoactive materials. For that reason, the fundamentals of the electronic structure of semiconductors, as well as the mechanism of their interaction with light and the relevance of their surface properties will be accounted for in this chapter.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Implicitly, the effective-mass approximation is adopted here (see Sect. 2.3), because the weak dependence of u i (r) with k is neglected.

  2. 2.

    This wavelength derives from the Broglie relationship, λ = h/p, where h is the Heisenberg constant and p is the momentum.

  3. 3.

    Obviously, real heterogeneous catalysts frequently suffer deactivation, but such phenomenon occurs following several cycles (frequently more than ten hundreds), and consequently, recovery of the initial state (even if imperfect) is still a crucial aspect in catalysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute IMDEA Energía, Avenida de Ramón de la Sagra, 3, 28935, Móstoles, Madrid, Spain

    Juan Manuel Coronado

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  1. Juan Manuel Coronado
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Correspondence to Juan Manuel Coronado .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Campus Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Institute IMDEA Energía, C/Tulipán, s/n, Móstoles, 28933, Madrid, Spain

    Juan M. Coronado

  2. , Laboratory for Environmental Research, University of Nova Gorica, Nova Gorica, Madrid, Slovenia

    Fernando Fresno

  3. , Renewable Energy Division, CIEMAT-PSA, Madrid, Spain

    María D. Hernández-Alonso

  4. , Institute of Catalysis and Petrochemistr, CSIC, Calle Marie Curie 2, Madrid, E-28049, Spain

    Raquel Portela

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Coronado, J.M. (2013). Photons, Electrons and Holes: Fundamentals of Photocatalysis with Semiconductors. In: Coronado, J., Fresno, F., Hernández-Alonso, M., Portela, R. (eds) Design of Advanced Photocatalytic Materials for Energy and Environmental Applications. Green Energy and Technology. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-5061-9_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-5061-9_2

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