LV638

“The Division of Catalysis and Porous Materials (DCMP) of the Portuguese Chemical Society (SPQ) is focused on the scientific advances in catalysis and porous materials, and their applications.” This and more about the Division of Catalysis and Porous Materials (DCMP) of the Portuguese Chemical Society (SPQ) can be found in this issue's Society Profile.

A new method has been developed to fabricate active TiO₂ photocatalysts by tuning the morphology of the catalyst support. A sustainable solution-phase TiO₂ deposition on dendritic fibrous nanosilica (DFNS) protocol is developed, which is better than the complex and expensive atomic layer deposition technique. In general, catalytic activity decreases with an increased TiO₂ loading on conventional mesoporous silica because of the loss of the surface area caused by the blocking of pores. Notably, in the case of the dendritic fibrous nanosilica KCC-1 as a support, because of its open fibrous morphology, even at the highest TiO₂ loading, a relatively large amount of surface area remained intact. This improved the accessibility of active sites, which increased the catalytic performance of the KCC-1/TiO₂ photocatalyst. KCC-1-supported TiO₂ is a superior photocatalyst in terms of H₂ generation (26.4 mmol g ⁻¹ h⁻¹) under UV light. This study may provide a new direction for photocatalyst development through the morphology control of the support.

Fibrous photocatalyst: A new method is developed to fabricate active TiO₂ photocatalysts by tuning the morphology of the catalyst support through solution-phase TiO₂ deposition on silica. With the nanosilica KCC-1 as a support, a relatively large amount of surface area remains intact because of its open fibrous morphology, even at the highest TiO₂ loading. This improves the accessibility of active sites, which increases the catalytic performance of the KCC-1/TiO₂ photocatalyst.

Core–shell quantum dots serve as self-calibrating, ultrasensitive, multiparametric, near-infrared, and biocompatible temperature sensors. They allow temperature measurement with nanometer accuracy in the range 150–373 K, the broadest ever recorded for a nanothermometer, with sensitivities among the highest ever reported, which makes them essentially unique in the panorama of biocompatible nanothermometers with potential for in vivo biological thermal imaging and/or thermoablative therapy.