Layer-by-Layer Photocatalytic Assembly for Solar Light-Activated Self-Decontaminating Textiles

Novel photocatalytic nanomaterials that can be used to functionalize textiles, conferring to them efficient solar-light-activated properties for the decontamination of toxic and lethal agents, are described. Textiles functionalized with one-dimensional (1D) SnS₂-based nanomaterials were used for photocatalytic applications for the first time. We showed that 1D SnS₂/TiO₂ nanocomposites can be easily and strongly affixed onto textiles using the layer-by-layer deposition method. Ultrathin SnS₂ nanosheets were associated with anatase TiO₂ nanofibers to form nano-heterojunctions with a tight interface, considerably increasing the photo-oxidative activity of anatase TiO₂ due to the beneficial interfacial transfer of photogenerated charges and increased oxidizing power. Moreover, it is easy to process the material on a larger scale and to regenerate these functionalized textiles. Our findings may aid the development of functionalized clothing with solar light-activated photocatalytic properties that provide a high level of protection against chemical warfare agents

N‑Doped Food-Grade-Derived 3D Mesoporous Foams as Metal-Free Systems for Catalysis

A challenging task of modern and sustainable catalysis is to rethink key processes at the heart of renewable energy technology in light of metal-free catalytic architectures designed and fabricated from cheap and easily accessible building blocks. This contribution describes the synthesis of highly N doped, carbon nanotube (CNT)-netting composites from cheap raw materials. With physical mixtures of CNTs and food-grade components as the starting materials, their thermal treatment generates foamy, N-doped carbon-based architectures. The mesoporous nature of the N-doped carbon phase grown around intertwined carbon nanotube networks and the easy control of the final material 3D shape make the protocol highly versatile for its full exploitation in the production of materials for catalysis. In addition to offering unique advantages with respect to the classical N-doped CNT powders, the 3D metal-free composites are highly versatile systems for a number of liquid-phase and gas-phase catalytic processes, under a wide operative temperature range. In this paper we demonstrate their excellent and to some extent unique catalytic performance in two fundamental and catalyst-demanding processes: (i) the electrochemical oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and (ii) the direct, steam-free dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene (EB) to styrene (ST)