Reversible Sol-Gel Transitions Mediated Organics Selective Uptake and Release for Simultaneous Water Purification and Chemicals Recovery.

The separation and recovery of useful organics from wastewater have been a promising alternative to tackling water pollution and resource shortages, while strategies that truly work have rarely been explored. Herein, a reversible CO triggered sol-gel state transformation mediated selective organics uptake-release system using a surface modified carbonitride (S-CN) is proposed and exhibits remarkable organics recovery performance from wastewater. Results show that CO can serve as a cross-linker for linking S-CN particles to form a hydrogel by electrostatic interaction and hydrogen bonding, which can be recycled to the pristine sol state simply by removing the cross-linked CO with Ar purging.

Selective Photocatalytic Transformation of Lignin to Aromatic Chemicals by Crystalline Carbon Nitride in Water-Acetonitrile Solutions.

The photocatalytic conversion of lignin to aromatic compounds in aqueous solutions is a promising approach. We herein report a crystalline carbon nitride prepared by high-temperature thermal polymerization and alkali-metal molten salt treatment, which was then applied in the selective conversion of lignin to aromatic compounds. The results showed that the tri-s-tri-CN presented a relatively high activity and selectivity for the conversion of lignin in aqueous solutions.