Photocatalysis

About: Photocatalysis is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 67088 publications have been published within this topic receiving 2145233 citations. The topic is also known as: photocatalyst.

Synergy of Dopants and Defects in Graphitic Carbon Nitride with Exceptionally Modulated Band Structures for Efficient Photocatalytic Oxygen Evolution.

Abstract: Electronic structure greatly determines the band structures and the charge carrier transport properties of semiconducting photocatalysts and consequently their photocatalytic activities. Here, by simply calcining the mixture of graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3 N4 ) and sodium borohydride in an inert atmosphere, boron dopants and nitrogen defects are simultaneously introduced into g-C3 N4 . The resultant boron-doped and nitrogen-deficient g-C3 N4 exhibits excellent activity for photocatalytic oxygen evolution, with highest oxygen evolution rate reaching 561.2 µmol h-1 g-1 , much higher than previously reported g-C3 N4 . It is well evidenced that with conduction and valence band positions substantially and continuously tuned by the simultaneous introduction of boron dopants and nitrogen defects into g-C3 N4 , the band structures are exceptionally modulated for both effective optical absorption in visible light and much increased driving force for water oxidation. Moreover, the engineered electronic structure creates abundant unsaturated sites and induces strong interlayer C-N interaction, leading to efficient electron excitation and accelerated charge transport. In the present work, a facile approach is successfully demonstrated to engineer the electronic structures and the band structures of g-C3 N4 with simultaneous introduction of dopants and defects for high-performance photocatalytic oxygen evolution, which can provide informative principles for the design of efficient photocatalysis systems for solar energy conversion.

Visible-Light-Promoted Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production by Using an Amino-Functionalized Ti(IV) Metal–Organic Framework

Abstract: The present article describes the hydrogen production from an aqueous medium over amino-functionalized Ti(IV) metal–organic framework (Ti-MOF-NH2) under visible-light irradiation. Ti-MOF-NH2, which employs 2-amino-benzenedicarboxylic acid as an organic linker, has been synthesized by a facile solvothermal method. Pt nanoparticles as cocatalysts are then deposited onto Ti-MOF-NH2 via a photodeposition process (Pt/Ti-MOF-NH2). The XRD and N2 adsorption measurements reveal the successful formation of a MOF framework structure and its remaining structure after deposition of Pt nanoparticles. The observable visible-light absorption up to ∼500 nm can be seen in the DRUV–vis spectrum of Ti-MOF-NH2, which is associated with the chromophore in the organic linker. Ti-MOF-NH2 and Pt/Ti-MOF-NH2 exhibit efficient photocatalytic activities for hydrogen production from an aqueous solution containing triethanolamine as a sacrificial electron donor under visible-light irradiation. The longest wavelength available for the ...