Abstract
Research on nanocrystals is rapidly finding applications in energy, medical and agricultural fields. In particular, improving nanocrystal activity should improve hydrogen generation by photocatalytic water splitting. While nanocrystal activity is classically changed by modifying crystal size and by surface coating, modifying crystal structure by facet engineering is rising to control nanocrystal functionality. For instance, low-index faceted nanocrystals are easily obtained and are commonly represented by Miller indices {hkl} with at least one index value equal to unity or zero. Low-index facets improve the photocatalytic performance of water splitting and pollutants transformation. Here we review low-index facet-dependent photocatalytic activity and the environmental impact of metal-based nanocrystals. We found that photocatalytic activity and environmental impact are highly dependent on the specific exposed facet. The effect of shape on nanocrystal functionality is mainly due to the exposed facet.
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Abbreviations
- DFT:
-
Density functional theory
- EPR:
-
Electron paramagnetic resonance
- PEG:
-
Polyethylene glycol
- ROS:
-
Reactive oxygen species
- TCH:
-
Tetracycline hydrochloride
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We thank National Natural Science Foundation of China (21806141, 22021003, 21976163) for financial support.
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Xiang Zhang contributed to conceptualization, critical thinking and writing. Jie Tang contributed to writing. Nali Zhu contributed to discussion. Lingxiangyu Li and Yawei Wang contributed to review, proofread and supervision.
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Zhang, X., Tang, J., Zhu, N. et al. Water splitting, pollutant degradation and environmental impact using low-index faceted metal-based nanocrystals. A review. Environ Chem Lett 20, 1035–1045 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-021-01385-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10311-021-01385-7