Bi-directional charge transfer channels in highly crystalline carbon nitride enabling superior photocatalytic hydrogen evolution.

Introducing a donor-acceptor (D-A) unit is an effective approach to facilitate charge transfer in polymeric carbon nitride (PCN) and enhance photocatalytic performance. However, the introduction of hetero-molecules can lead to a decrease in crystallinity, limiting interlayer charge transfer and inhibiting further improvement. In this study, we constructed a novel D-A type carbon nitride with significantly higher crystallinity and a bi-directional charge transfer channel, which was achieved through 2,5-thiophenedicarboxylic acid (2,5-TDCA)-assisted self-assembly followed by KCl-templated calcination.

Enhancing Photocatalytic Degradation via the Synergetic Effect of Vacancies and Built-In Potential in a BiOCl/BiVO p-n Heterojunction.

Photoinduced charge separation and surface reactions are essential for ensuring high quantum efficiency of the photochemical and photophysical processes. BiVO-based heterojunctions are promising materials for high-performance photocatalysts; however, their photocatalytic performance is significantly lower than the theoretical limit due to the sluggish water oxidation dynamics and rapid recombination of charge carriers on the catalyst surface. To address these issues, oxygen vacancies (OVs) are introduced to a rationally designed BiVO-based heterojunction using built-in potential and gradient OVs to promote the separation of carriers and increase the photocatalytic activity.

Nanoarchitectonics on Z-scheme and Mott-Schottky heterostructure for photocatalytic water oxidation dual-cascade charge-transfer pathways.

The bottleneck for water splitting to generate hydrogen fuel is the sluggish oxidation of water. Even though the monoclinic-BiVO (m-BiVO)-based heterostructure has been widely applied for water oxidation, carrier recombination on dual surfaces of the m-BiVO component have not been fully resolved by a single heterojunction. Inspired by natural photosynthesis, we established an m-BiVO/carbon nitride (CN) Z-scheme heterostructure based on the m-BiVO/reduced graphene oxide (rGO) Mott-Schottky heterostructure, constructing the face-contact CN/m-BiVO/rGO (CNBG) ternary composite to remove excessive surface recombination during water oxidation.

Synergetic Nanoarchitectonics of Defects and Cocatalysts in Oxygen-Vacancy-Rich BiVO/reduced graphene oxide Mott-Schottky Heterostructures for Photocatalytic Water Oxidation.

Water oxidation process is a pivotal step of photosynthesis and stimulates the progress of high-performance catalysts for renewable fuel production. Despite the performance benefit of cocatalysts, defect engineering holds promise to settle inherent limitations of semiconductors aiming at sluggish water oxidation. Here, we modify the growth pathway of monoclinic BiVO (m-BiVO) on reduced graphene oxide (rGO), constructing abundant surface oxygen vacancies (O)-incorporated m-BiVO/rGO heterostructure toward water oxidation reaction under visible light.

Recent advancements in g-CN-based photocatalysts for photocatalytic CO reduction: a mini review.

Carbon dioxide (CO) is a very important micro-molecular resource. Using CO captured from the atmosphere for high-output synthesis of chemicals as raw materials has great significance and potential for various industrial applications. Since the industrial revolution in the 18 century, manmade CO emission has increased by 45%, which negatively impacts the planetary climate by the so-called greenhouse effect.