Fang Liu

By Xiangchao Zhang, Duan Huang, Kaiqiang Xu, Difa Xu, Fang Liu and Shiying Zhang

Indium-containing visible-light-driven (VLD) photocatalysts including indium-containing oxides, indium-containing sulfides, indium-containing hydroxides, and other categories have attracted more attention due to their high catalytic activities for oxidation and reduction ability under visible light irradiation. This chapter will therefore concentrate on indium-containing nano-structured materials that demonstrate useful activity under solar excitation in fields concerned with the elimination of pollutants, partial oxidation and the vaporization of chemical compounds, water splitting, and CO2 reduction processes. The indium-containing photocatalysts can extend the light absorption range and improve the photocatalytic activity by doping, heterogeneous structures, load promoter, and morphology regulation. A number of synthetic and modification techniques for adjusting the band structure to harvest visible light and improve the charge separation in photocatalysis are discussed. In this chapter, preparation, properties, and potential applications of indium-containing nano-structured materials used as photocatalysis will be systematically summarized, which is beneficial for understanding the mechanism and developing the potential applications.

Part of the book: Semiconductor Photocatalysis

By Fang Liu, Eric Monroe and Ryan W. Davis

Production of biofuels from nonfood biomass has emerged as a sustainable option to address the problems associated with growing enery demand for transportation, heating, and industrial processes, in the context of diminishing petroleum reserves and global climate change. Biomass resources such as lignocellulose-rich biomass and microalgae, despite being abundant pose several challenges for efficient bioconversion to biofuels. Major challenges that must be addressed are the chemical complexity of the biomass and the associated feedstock variability. In this chapter, the role of microbial consortium-based biocatalysis strategies that are being developed to address these issues are reviewed and discussed. Microbial coculture biocatalysts are systems that are engineered to specialize in the conversion of a general class of substrates present in the biomass hydrolysates into biofuel intermediates, providing the capability of adapting to the variable composition of the feedstock. The techniques being developed to understand the interactions between the members of the bioconversion consortia and the corresponding population dynamics of the engineered cocultures are also discussed.

Part of the book: Biofuels