Challenges of Heterogeneous Photocatalysts as Promising Materials for AddressingEnvironmental and Energy Crises

Following the increase in population, urbanization, and rapid industrial development, the issuesrelated to environmental pollution and energy shortage have increased significantly. The uncontrolled entranceof organic/inorganic pollutants and pathogenic microorganisms into the environment has tremendouslyaffected the sustainable development of many societies and human health. Furthermore, the increase in fossilfuels consumption is one of the most important issues that must be addressed due to their limited resources.Therefore, in this century, one of the biggest challenges is to provide sustainable living conditions for the presentand future generations on the earth. Fortunately, the development of heterogeneous photocatalysts is apromising research field to overcome the environmental and energy issues through converting solar energy intochemical energy (Figure ۱). Consequently, the promising potential of heterogeneous photocatalysts for cleanenergy production and pollutant removal have stimulated many researchers worldwide. Nevertheless, timeconsumingrecycling of photocatalysts, high recombination rate of charge carriers, rapid poisoning of active sitesthrough the production of side products, low chemical stability, insufficient absorption of solar light, pooradsorption of contaminants, and high capital and operational costs are the main challenges that must beaddressed, before their real-scale applications. Rational design of multicomponent photocatalytic systems,surface modification, defect engineering, elemental doping, textural improvement, tuning crystal sizes/faces,and employing floating and photothermal materials are of effective strategies to move from laboratory scale topilot and importantly to large scale utilization of these promising materials. In this presentation, we will discussabout our recent research activities and the future prospects of the photocatalytic processes [۱-۸].

کلیدواژه ها:

Photocatalysis ، Energy conversion ، Environmental remediation ، Heterogeneous photocatalysis