An apparatus comprises a chamber, an emitter configured to emit electromagnetic radiation into the chamber, and an igniter configured to provide energy at an ignition point within the chamber to initiate a gas discharge. The emitter and the igniter are operable in conjunction to generate nonthermal plasma within the chamber at atmospheric pressure.

A simple, one-step method for producing a homogenous CeO.sub.2TiO.sub.2 composite thin film using aerosol-assisted chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of a solution containing triacetatocerium (III) and tetra isopropoxytitanium (IV) on a fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) substrate at a temperature ranging from about 500 to about 650 C. Methods for using the film produced by this method.

A cation reduction device according to the disclosure includes a photocatalytic cell containing an electrolyte containing a first cation and photocatalyst particles, in which the electrolyte and the photocatalyst particles reduce the first cation to a second cation by photocatalytic activity of the photocatalyst particles generated by receiving light, and a pH of the electrolyte is within a pH range in which a zeta potential of the photocatalyst particles is 0 mV or higher.

A photocatalytic cell of the disclosure is a photocatalytic cell that contains a photocatalyst sheet and an electrolyte. The photocatalyst sheet includes a carrier sheet provided with multiple fibers bonded thereto, and multiple photocatalyst particles supported or fixed on the carrier sheet, the multiple photocatalyst particles include tungsten oxide particles, and a mass of the multiple photocatalyst particles per unit area of the photocatalyst sheet is 20 g/m2 or more.

The present disclosure relates generally to reactor systems that include (a) a housing having an interior surface that may be at least partially reflective, (b) at least one reactor cell disposed within an interior of the housing, the at least one reactor cell including an enclosure and a plasmonic photocatalyst on a catalyst support disposed within the at least one enclosure, where the enclosure is optically transparent and includes at least one inlet for a reactant to enter the at least one cell and at least one outlet for a reformate to exit the at least one cell and (c) at least one light source disposed within the interior of the housing and/or external to the housing. At least one light-management feature and/or at least one thermal-management feature is applied to the reactor cell, reactor system, or a reformer system comprising many reactor systems, in order to improve efficiency.