InGaN offers a route to high efficiency overall water splitting under one-step photo-excitation. Further, the chemical stability of metal-nitrides supports their use as an alternative photocatalyst. However, the efficiency of overall water splitting using InGaN and other visible light responsive photocatalysts has remained extremely low despite prior art work addressing optical absorption through band gap engineering. Within this prior art the detrimental effects of unbalanced charge carrier extraction/collection on the efficiency of the four electron-hole water splitting reaction have remained largely unaddressed. To address this growth processes are presented that allow for controlled adjustment and establishment of the appropriate Fermi level and/or band bending in order to allow the photochemical water splitting to proceed at high rate and high efficiency. Beneficially, establishing such material surface charge properties also reduces photo-corrosion and instability under harsh photocatalysis conditions.

Methods according to the present invention decolorize a polymer by mixing a solution of the polymer with a photocatalyst and exposing the mixture to ultraviolet light; by way of non-limiting example, the polymer may be a star polymer and the photocatalyst may be titanium dioxide. Methods according to the present invention also utilize a metal scavenger, in some embodiments a solid-phase metal scavenger, to remove a metal catalyst from a polymer solution; by way of non-limiting example, the metal catalyst may be a tin catalyst. The decolorization methods and the catalyst removal methods of the present invention may be practiced separately, sequentially in any order, or simultaneously.

The present invention relates generally to an advanced oxidation process for providing advanced oxidation products to an environment. More particularly, the present invention provides a wick structure and hydrophilic granules for use in an advanced oxidation process, and methods of making the same. The wick structure and hydrophilic granules may be configured to collect and concentrate water vapor, so that the water vapor may subsequently be used to generate advanced oxidation products that react with and neutralize compounds in an environment, including microbes, odor causing chemicals, and other organic and inorganic chemicals.

A flow reactor has a fluidic module with a first major outer surface. The module contains a fluid passage and has a transmittance through the first major outer surface to the fluid passage of at least 20% over a range of wavelengths. The reactor has an illumination module comprising one or more radiation sources, which can emit within the range, positioned within an enclosure. The enclosure has a back wall and a side wall and an opening opposite the back wall. An edge of the side wall surrounds the opening. The illumination module is positioned such that the opening of the illumination module faces the first major outer surface of the fluidic module. The side wall comprises a telescoping portion such that a distance from the back wall of the enclosure to the edge of the side wall is adjustable.

A system and method for operating a lighting array is disclosed. In one example, the system and method detect the presence or absence of short circuiting current flow through a light emitting device and provide an indication of the same. The system and method may also increase or decrease current flow through the lighting array to compensate for reduced lighting output or to reduce the possibility of lighting array degradation.

The present disclosure is directed to a low temperature method of preparing graphene. The method comprises applying a graphene oxide to a substrate and treating the graphene oxide on the substrate using photoreduction to reduce and stitch the graphene oxide to graphene. The present disclosure is also directed to graphene produced according to the aforementioned method.

An improved photocatalytic device in which within semiconductors, absorbed electromagnetic radiation is known to generate electron-hole pairs; unwanted recombination of the radiation-generated electrons and holes is a significant limitation of photocatalytic efficiency, while the simultaneous local presence of both electrons and holes at the photocatalyst surface make reaction-specificity difficult to control. A photocatalytic device is described in which radiation-generated electrons and holes are spatially separated to be individually introduced into the reactant flow, minimizing unwanted recombination while promoting reaction-specific outcomes.

In an apparatus producing hydrogen gas by the decomposition reaction of water using photocatalyst, its miniaturization is achieved while suppressing the decrease of production efficiency of hydrogen gas as low as possible or improving the efficiency. The apparatus 1 comprises a container portion 2 receiving water W; a photocatalyst member 3 immersed in the water, having photocatalyst which generates excited electrons and positive holes when irradiated with light, causes a decomposition reaction of the water and generates hydrogen gas; a light source 4 emitting the light irradiated to the photocatalyst member; and a heat exchange device 7 conducting waste heat of the light source to the water in the container portion; wherein the water to be decomposed on the photocatalyst member in the container portion is warmed by the waste heat of the light source by the heat exchange device.

Disclosed is a method of irradiating a composition having water and hydrogen-terminated nanodiamonds with light that generates water-solvated electrons from the nanodiamonds. The method can be used to degrade fluoroalkyl compounds such as perfluorooctane sulfonate.

An object is to provide a light irradiation apparatus irradiating a light to a sample in a reaction vessel while stirring the sample more efficiently. A rotating stage can rotate around a first axis that is a central axis thereof. A holding mechanism holds reaction vessels whose longitudinal directions are a direction of the central axis on a circumference around the first axis on the rotating stage at equal intervals. Rotation mechanisms hold bottoms of the reaction vessels and rotate the reaction vessels around second axes that are central axes of the reaction vessels, respectively. A light irradiation mechanism is disposed on the rotating stage and irradiates a light emitted from at least one light emitting diode to the reaction vessels from a predetermined direction.