article · Materials Today Sustainability
Nickel oxide is a p-type semiconductor material of interest in photocatalysis because of its high hole concentration. These characteristics allow the formation of effective p-n heterojunctions that improve the separation and transmission of interfacial charge carriers, leading to better photocatalytic activity. A comprehensive overview examines the photocatalytic features of nickel oxide and its heterostructures, specifically targeting the degradation and removal of organic contaminants from wastewater. It addresses the underlying photodegradation mechanisms, focusing on charge transfer improvements needed for effective redox reactions. Additionally, computational insights reveal how defect and vacancy modulation affect the electronic and band structure of the material. Optimization strategies are evaluated, including structural modifications through doping, metal oxide heterojunctions, and hybrid carbon composites. Finally, the analysis presents the potential and current limitations of these catalysts to guide future design.
Water contamination by organic pollutants poses serious environmental and public health challenges. Photocatalytic treatment offers a clean approach to break down these contaminants using light. By clarifying how nickel oxide materials and their modified composites operate at a structural and electronic level, this work helps researchers design more efficient catalysts to purify industrial and municipal wastewater.
The findings are relevant to developers of advanced wastewater treatment technologies and industrial effluent purification systems seeking more efficient photocatalytic materials. However, the work sits at the stage of foundational and early-stage materials design, focusing on structural modification strategies, computational modelling, and mechanistic understanding rather than deployed, pilot-scale filtration systems.
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Nickel oxide (NiO) semiconductor is an interesting material in photocatalysis applications due to its p-type nature and high hole concentration properties. These properties of NiO promote its effective p-n heterojunctions interfacial charge carriers’ separation and transmission efficiency for improved photocatalytic performance. The review discusses the photocatalytic properties of NiO and its heterostructures with application focus in photodegradation removal of various organic wastewater contaminants. The photodegradation mechanism of NiO-based photocatalysts with respect to improvements in charge separation and transfer for their effective redox utilization in the removal of organic pollutants is discussed. The review highlights the knowledge on interplay correlations of NiO photocatalytic properties with electronic and band structure properties of p-type NiO from computational analysis viewpoint via modulation of defects and vacancies are highlighted. Furthermore, the various strategies to optimize the photoactivity properties of NiO-based photocatalysts via structural modifications driven by doping, heterojunction interfaces with metal oxides and hybrid carbon composites are deliberated. Finally, the overview of the potentials and shortcomings of various NiO junctions interfaced photocatalysts in photodegradation removal of aqua organic pollutants is presented to strengthen the foundation knowledge for further design and development of new NiO-based photocatalysts.
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DOI: 10.1016/j.mtsust.2023.100664
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