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Cu–Sn bimetallic catalysts have been prepared, and exhibit efficient electrocatalytic activity towards the conversion of CO2 to formate with a faradaic efficiency of 92.9% and a current density of 632 mA cm−2.

Trimetallic Cu10La1Cs1 catalysts prepared via a one-step co-electrodeposition strategy can act as a robust electrocatalyst for CO2RR to C2H4.

The Ag/AgCl@SiO2 catalyst exhibits excellent photocatalytic activity in selective aerobic oxidation of methane to carbon monoxide with high selectivity, and extended real light simulation feasibility shows potential in practical application.

A NbOx catalyst with oxygen vacancies is synthesized and used for nitrate electroreduction to ammonia. The faradaic efficiency of 94.5% and the NH3 formation rate of 55.0 μg h−1 mgcat−1 can be achieved in a neutral electrolyte.

Cu–Pd bimetallic catalysts were fabricated on carbon paper (CP) by the electrodeposition method via a dynamic hydrogen bubble template approach. At a potential of −1.2 V vs. RHE, the Faradaic efficiency (FE) of C2H4 could reach 45.2% with a current density of 17.4 mA cm−2 in an H-type electrolytic cell. Detailed studies suggest that the enhanced performance of Cu–Pd/CP was attributed mainly to the synergistic effect, low interfacial charge transfer resistance, and the 3D architecture of the catalysts.

In this study, novel Gd/TiO2@rGO (GTR) nanocomposites with high photocatalytic performance were fabricated via a one-pot solvothermal approach. During the preparation step, graphene oxide (GO) was reduced to reduced graphene oxide (rGO), and subsequently, on the surfaces of which anatase TiO2 doped with Gd metal was grown in situ with a 3D petal-like structure. Gd doping into the classical TiO2@rGO system efficiently expands the absorption range of light, improves the separation of photogenerated electrons, and increases the photocatalytic reaction sites. The specific surface areas, morphological structures, and valence and conduction bands of the obtained GTR nanocomposites were analyzed and correlated with their enhanced photocatalytic performances for the degradation of an aqueous RhB solution. The experimental results indicated that the best performance was achieved with the 3% GTR composite, which exhibited the highest photoelectrocatalytic activity because of two aspects: the rapid separation of electrons and holes, and improvement in adsorption capacity. As compared with pure TiO2, the GTR composites demonstrated enhanced photoactivity due to synergetic effects between the effective photo-induced electron transfer from TiO2 to the surface of the rGO acceptor through interfacial interactions and the variation of structure and electrons under the adoption of Gd.

We prepared a new three-dimensional, flower-like La–TiO2/g-C3N4 (LaTiCN) heterojunction photocatalyst using a solvothermal method. Analysis and characterization were performed by conducting scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy, ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometry, and nitrogen adsorption and desorption. The prepared g-C3N4 nanosheets could reach 100 nm in size and covered the TiO2 surface. A tightly bound interface formed between the g-C3N4 and TiO2, speeding up the effective transfer of photo-induced electrons. In addition, the incorporation of La3+ reduced the electron–hole recombination efficiency. Consequently, the prepared La–TiO2/g-C3N4 composite material exhibited better visible-light catalytic activity than pure TiO2.

Hollow Nd-doped TiO2 sub-microspheres are synthesised via a controlled hydrolysis reaction, where carbon spheres are employed as the template. The building blocks of TiO2 doped with Nd are deposited on the surface of carbon spheres and subsequently, the carbon spheres are removed by calcination in air. The structure and morphology of the hollow Nd/TiO2 sub-microsphere composites are characterised by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), low temperature N2 adsorption (Brunauer–Emmett–Teller analysis), simultaneous thermal analysis (TG-DTA), diffuse reflectance UV-vis spectroscopy (DRS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The SEM and TEM micrographs reveal that the as-prepared hollow Nd/TiO2 sub-microsphere composite has an average diameter of 100 nm and a special uniform morphology, where the hollow sub-microspheres are constructed by TiO2 nano-chains, which resemble cage-like structures. The Nd-doped Nd/TiO2 composites exhibit high visible light absorption capacity, high adsorption ability and high photocatalytic activity towards Rhodamine B (RhB). Further, the effect of neodymium content on the physical structure and photocatalytic properties of hollow Nd/TiO2 sub-microspheres is investigated. Finally, it is concluded that the higher photocatalytic performance of as-prepared hollow Nd/TiO2 sub-microspheres stems from their hollow structure comprised of Nd/TiO2 nanostructures and a high light-harvesting efficiency.