Department: Department of Chemistry            PI's Name: Kuo-Chu Hwang

Journal: Advanced Materials 2024, 36(9), 2307054; https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202307054; published online on 2023-Nov-02.

Title: Mid-IR light activatable full spectrum LaB₆ plasmonic photocatalyst

Abstract: The research team led by Distinguished Professor Kuo Chu Hwang discovered the first thermal radiation activatable photocatalyst ever reported in the history of human science. It is a surface plasma-type photocatalyst that can be excited by thermal radiation energy from the environment to produce photocatalyst without irradiation. It can absorb UV–vis-NIR light and mid-IR (3900 nm) light and split water to generate hydrogen and hydroxyl radicals for the decomposition of organic pollutants, as well as kill multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli bacteria. Mid-IR light (≈2–50 μm) is readily available from the natural environments via thermal radiation of warm/hot objects on the earth including human bodies, animals, furnaces, hot/warm electrical devices, and buildings.

Although there are more than 130,000 academic papers on photocatalyst research, but there are only 4 milestone papers. The first three are, Honda & Fujishima's discovery of UV-activatable titanium dioxide photocatalyst in 1972 (Nature 1972, 238, 37-38), and Asahi's discovery regarding visible light activatable photocatalyst (Science 2001, 293, 269-271). In 2013, Professor Bobiao Huang in Shandong University discovered the first near-infrared light photocatalyst that can be activated by near-infrared light (> 800 nm) (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2013, 52, 4810).The recent discovery of the first mid-IR light activatable plasmonic photocatalyst by professor Kuo Chu Hwang in the Chemistry Department of National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan, can be regarded as the fourth milestone paper in the field of photocatalysts. The work was commented by the reviewers as innovative and important, within top 5% in the field, and was published in  the flagship academic journal Advanced Materials (Adv Mater. 2024, 36(9), 2307054; https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202307054). Published online on 2023-Nov-02.