Recent progress on sonochemical production for the synthesis of efficient photocatalysts and the impact of reactor design

Panayiota Adamou; Eleana Harkou; Sanaa Hafeez; George Manos; Alberto Villa; S M Al-Salem; Achilleas Constantinou; Nikolaos Dimitratos

doi:10.1016/j.ultsonch.2023.106610

Recent progress on sonochemical production for the synthesis of efficient photocatalysts and the impact of reactor design

Ultrason Sonochem. 2023 Nov:100:106610. doi: 10.1016/j.ultsonch.2023.106610. Epub 2023 Sep 28.

Authors

Panayiota Adamou¹, Eleana Harkou¹, Sanaa Hafeez², George Manos³, Alberto Villa⁴, S M Al-Salem⁵, Achilleas Constantinou⁶, Nikolaos Dimitratos⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical Engineering Cyprus University of Technology, 57 Corner of Athinon and Anexartisias, 3036 Limassol, Cyprus.
² School of Engineering and Materials Science, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
³ Department of Chemical Engineering, University College London, London WCIE 7JE, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
⁴ Dipartimento di Chimica, Universitá degli Studi di Milano, via Golgi, 20133 Milan, Italy.
⁵ Environment & Life Sciences Research Centre, Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, P.O. Box: 24885, Safat 13109, Kuwait.
⁶ Department of Chemical Engineering Cyprus University of Technology, 57 Corner of Athinon and Anexartisias, 3036 Limassol, Cyprus. Electronic address: a.konstantinou@cut.ac.cy.
⁷ Department of Industrial Chemistry "Toso Montanari", University of Bologna, viale Risorgimento 4 40136 Bologna, Italy; Center for Chemical Catalysis - C3, University of Bologna, viale Risorgimento 4 40136 Bologna, Italy. Electronic address: nikolaos.dimitratos@unibo.it.

Abstract

Sonochemical-assisted synthesis has flourished recently for the design of photocatalysts. The main power used is ultrasound that allows the nanomaterials shape and size modification and control. This review highlights the effect in formation mechanism by ultrasound application and the most common photocatalysts that were prepared via sonochemical techniques. Moreover, the challenge for the suitable reactor design for the synthesis of materials or for their photocatalytic evaluation is discussed since the most prominent reactor systems, batch, and continuous flow, has both advantages and drawbacks. This work summarises the significance of sonochemical synthesis for photocatalytic materials as a green technology that needs to be further investigated for the preparation of new materials and the scale up of developed reactor systems to meet industrial needs.

Keywords: Flow reactors; Microflow reactors; Nanoparticles; Photocatalysts; Sonochemical synthesis.