This paper reports for the first time the electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL) behavior of graphite-like carbon nitride (g-C(3)N(4)) with K(2)S(2)O(8) as the coreactant. The possible ECL reaction mechanisms are proposed. The spectral features of the ECL emission and photoluminescence (PL) of g-C(3)N(4) are compared, and their resemblance demonstrates that the excited states of g-C(3)N(4) from both ECL and photoexcitation are the same. The effects of K(2)S(2)O(8) concentration, pH, g-C(3)N(4)/carbon powder ratio, and scan rate on the ECL intensity have been studied in detail. Furthermore, it is observed that the ECL intensity is efficiently quenched by trace amounts of Cu(2+). g-C(3)N(4) is thus employed to fabricate an ECL sensor which shows high selectivity to Cu(2+) determination. The limit of detection is determined as 0.9 nM. It is anticipated that g-C(3)N(4) could be a new class of promising material for fabricating ECL sensors.

NH serves as an attractive hydrogen storage medium and a renewable energy sector for a sustainable future. Electrochemical reduction is a feasible ambient reaction to convert N to NH, while it needs efficient electrocatalysts for the N reduction reaction (NRR) to meet the challenge associated with N activation. In this Letter, we report on our recent experimental finding that the TiO nanosheets array on the Ti plate (TiO/Ti) is effective for electrochemical N conversion to NH at ambient conditions. When tested in 0.1 M NaSO, such TiO/Ti attains a high NH yield of 9.16 × 10 mol s·cm with corresponding Faradaic efficiency of 2.50% at -0.7 V vs reversible hydrogen electrode, outperforming most reported aqueous-based NRR electrocatalysts. It also shows excellent selectivity for NH formation with high electrochemical stability. The superior NRR activity is due to the enhanced adsorption and activation of N by oxygen vacancies in situ generated during electrochemical tests.

Electrochemical N 2 reduction reaction (NRR) under ambient conditions offers us an environmentally friendly route for artificial synthesis of NH 3 . However, up to now, few noble-metal-free electrocatalysts with satisfactory catalytic activities have been explored. In this Letter, we demonstrate that MoN nanosheets array on carbon cloth (MoN NA/CC) acts as a high-performance NRR electrocatalyst toward NH 3 electrosynthesis in 0.1 M HCl under ambient conditions. This catalyst achieves a large NH 3 yield of 3.01 × 10 −10 mo1 s −1 cm −2 and a Faradaic efficiency of 1.15% at −0.3 V vs reversible hydrogen electrode with strong electrochemical durability and selectivity. Density functional theory calculations reveal that MoN NA/CC catalyzes NRR via the Mars−van Krevelen mechanism.

In this paper, the anodic electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL) behavior of graphite-like carbon nitride (g-C3N4) is studied using cyclic voltammetry with triethanolamine (TEA) as a coreactant. The possible anodic ECL response mechanism of the g-C3N4/TEA system is proposed. Furthermore, it is observed that the anodic ECL signal can be quenched efficiently in the presence of rutin, on the basis of which a facile anodic ECL senor for the determination of rutin is developed. This ECL sensor is found to have a linear response in the range of 0.20-45.0 μM and a low detection limit of 0.14 μM (at signal-to-noise of 3). These results suggest that semiconductor g-C3N4 has great potential in extending the application in the ECL field as an efficient luminophore.

Recent research into graphene-based materials is largely focused on graphene quantum dots (GQDs) and their optical properties. A facile method has been developed to extract GQDs from reduced graphene oxide (RGO) by the ozonation pre-oxide method. The as-prepared GQDs, which were 2-5 nm in diameter, exhibited strong fluorescence activity ranging from $355 nm to $440 nm. The prepared GQDs possessed strong fluorescence with quantum yields from 3.18% to 9.48%. What's more, the fluorescence properties of the GQDs could be determined by tuning the pH of the ozonation system. We speculated the mechanisms of ozonation, thermal and hydrothermal treatment. We found that pyrocatechol could lead to fluorescence quenching of the GQDs, which might produce novel potential for the detection of targets.