Environmental contamination has long been a big problem for the planet.
One of the greatest ways to harness the massive amounts of sunshine available is
photocatalysis, which may be used to remove dangerous organic pollutants from water
and the air. Due to its large band gap (3.2 eV), the golden standard TiO2
catalyst only
uses the UV area of the sun, or 5% of it, and cannot absorb all of the solar energy. To
attain optimal photocatalytic effectiveness, the photocatalytic materials must efficiently
harvest photons from sunlight's visible, NIR, and ultraviolet energies to form
photocarriers. Several methods for efficiently forming and separating light-induced
charge carriers and absorbing visible and near-infrared light photons from sunlight are
compiled in this chapter to provide increased photocatalytic efficiency. Effective
tactics, including doping and the fabrication of composite materials, are highlighted to
emphasize the distinct physicochemical qualities and photocatalytic enhancement of
changed materials that are impacted by band alignment, shape, and defect structures.
Despite the discussion of an up-conversion method for NIR light absorption,
multiphoton emission, continuous luminescence, photo carrier multiplication, and/or
plasmonic processes, in addition to the control of photo-thermo effects, make it
difficult to use NIR effectively. To fully use the solar spectrum for enhanced
photocatalytic pollutant degradation, the chapter provides an overview of UV, Visible,
and/or NIR active catalytic materials based on design, synthesis, and interface
engineering.
Keywords: Dye degradation, NIR photocatalyst, Plasmonic nanoparticle, Visible photocatalyst, Z – scheme composites.
