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Oxide semiconductors are widely used in the photocatalytic fields, and introducing oxygen vacancies is an effective strategy to improve their photocatalytic efficiency. However, oxygen vacancies in the bulk often act as the recombination centers of electron-hole pairs, which accelerates the recombination of electron-hole pairs. In this paper, we propose a strategy of electric field treatment and apply it to a TiO2 film with oxygen vacancies to promote the photocatalytic efficiency. After treatment by an electric field, the conductive channels consisting of oxygen vacancies are formed in the TiO2 film, which greatly decreases the resistance by almost 6 × 103 times. The yield of CO can reach up to 1.729 mmol gcat-1 h-1, which is one of the best performances among the reported TiO2-based catalysts. This work provides an effective and feasible way for enhancing photocatalytic activity through an electric field, and this method is promising for wide use in the field of catalysis.

Oxide semiconductors are widely used in the photocatalytic fields, and introducing oxygen vacancies is an effective strategy to improve their photocatalytic efficiency. However, oxygen vacancies in the bulk often act as the recombination centers of electron-hole pairs, which accelerates the recombination of electron-hole pairs. In this paper, we propose a strategy of electric field treatment and apply it to a TiO

The cytotoxic reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated by photoactivated sensitizers have been well explored in tumor therapy for nearly half a century, which is known as photodynamic therapy (PDT). The poor light penetration depth severely hinders PDT as a primary or adjuvant therapy for clinical indication. Whereas microwaves (MWs) are advantageous for deep penetration depth, the MW energy is considerably lower than that required for the activation of any species to induce ROS generation. Herein we find that liquid metal (LM) supernanoparticles activated by MW irradiation can generate ROS, such as ·OH and ·O2. On this basis, we design dual-functional supernanoparticles by loading LMs and an MW heating sensitizer ionic liquid (IL) into mesoporous ZrO2 nanoparticles, which can be activated by MW as the sole energy source for dynamic and thermal therapy concomitantly. The microwave sensitizer opens the door to an entirely novel dynamic treatment for tumors.

We investigate the electronic coupling between a TiO2 nanowire and a natural dye sensitizer, using state-of-the-art time-dependent first-principles calculations. The model dye molecule, cyanidin, is deprotonated into the quinonoidal form upon adsorption on the wire surface. This results in its highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) being located in the middle of the TiO2 bandgap and its lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) being close to the TiO2 conduction band minimum (CBM), leading to greatly enhanced visible light absorption with two prominent peaks at 480 and 650 nm. We find that excited electrons are injected into the TiO2 conduction band within a time scale of 50 fs with negligible electron-hole recombination and energy dissipation, even though the dye LUMO is located 0.1-0.3 eV lower than the CBM of the TiO2 nanowire.