Progress in plasma doping semiconductor photocatalysts for efficient pollutant remediation and hydrogen generation

[Display omitted] •Plasma-based doping of composite materials was an efficient way to reduce the band gap.•Plasma-based doping promoted substitutional doping.•Different methods for plasma discharge for doping were discussed.•Limited studies were performed on the real-life applications of plasma-base...

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Published in:Separation and purification technology 2023-09, Vol.320 (C), p.124141, Article 124141
Main Authors: Rahman, Tanzim Ur, Roy, Hridoy, Fariha, Athkia, Shoronika, Afrina Zaman, Al-Mamun, Md. Rashid, Islam, Syed Z., Islam, Md. Shahinoor, Marwani, Hadi M., Islam, Aminul, Alsukaibi, Abdulmohsen K.D., Rahman, Mohammed M., Awual, Md. Rabiul
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Band gap
Environmental remediation
Hydrogen production
Photocatalysis
Plasma doping
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Summary:[Display omitted] •Plasma-based doping of composite materials was an efficient way to reduce the band gap.•Plasma-based doping promoted substitutional doping.•Different methods for plasma discharge for doping were discussed.•Limited studies were performed on the real-life applications of plasma-based materials.•An in-depth understanding of the mechanisms was required for computational modelling. In recent years, solar energy-driven photocatalysis materials have drawn significant attention to addressing the global energy and environmental crisis. However, many of the semiconductor photocatalysts are unable to absorb the visible light of the solar spectra due to their wide band gap. The incorporation of a foreign element such as a dopant in the lattice of these photocatalysts was shown to reduce their band gap and enhance visible light absorption. The doping of semiconductors can be performed using several techniques such as sol–gel, hydrothermal, solvothermal, and plasma-based doping. However, plasma-based doping has been considered a highly efficient approach due to the reduction of the band gap to a large extent, enhancement of visible light absorption, and remarkable photocatalytic activities under visible light illumination. The plasma-based doping approach offered many advantages such as high reactivity, process simplicity, scalability, energy efficiency, homogeneous doping, no chemical inventory, low pressure, and low-temperature operation, and flexibility of operation under gas and liquid phase media. Further advancement of plasma-based doping can be achieved through more theoretical studies allowing an in-depth understanding of the mechanisms and interactions of the species involved. This will facilitate the synthesis and application of doped photocatalysts in a cost-effective manner. This review surveyed recent advances in a wide range of semiconductor photocatalysts doped with various dopants using plasma treatment. Various plasma methods for doping semiconductor photocatalysts and their fundamental mechanisms were discussed. The performance characteristics of the plasma-doped photocatalysts were compared to other methods in terms of energy and environmental applications including degradation of environmental contaminants and solar fuel production such as hydrogen production from water splitting using visible light-driven solar energy. Finally, potential future research directions were recommended for the applications of the efficient photocatalys
ISSN:1383-5866
1873-3794
DOI:10.1016/j.seppur.2023.124141