A Co/Co9S8/rGO/MWCNT composite catalyst was designed and fabricated via a combined hydrothermal reaction with a calcination method for the ORR/OER.

N-coordinated transition-metal materials are promising electrocatalysts for various sustainable and efficient electrochemical energy conversion and storage devices. Here we reported a simple synthetic route of simultaneously crafting Fe and Zn...

Phosphorus-and oxygen-codoped g-C 3 N 4 (POCN) with enhanced photocatalytic performance has been fabricated through a facile one-step process, in which ammonium polyphosphate (APP) has been employed as a phosphorus precursor for the first time. The detailed thermal copolymerization process suggests that the presence of hydrogen bonds in melamine/APP complexes and gases generated from the APP molecules during the calcination results in the doping of phosphorus and oxygen atoms into the heterocycles of g-C 3 N 4 and the formation of its nanosized structure. The introduction of APP changes the elementary content and morphology of the obtained POCN. POCN with 3.2% phosphorus and 11.3% oxygen (wt %) exhibits optimal photocatalytic performance and 8 times larger specific surface area than pristine g-C 3 N 4 . Compared with pristine g-C 3 N 4 , the H 2 evolution rate and the apparent degradation rate of rhodamine B catalyzed by the obtained POCN increase by 2-and 5-fold under visible light, respectively. The enhancement of photocatalysis can be mainly attributed to the enlarged surface area, abundant active sites, reduced diffusion distance, and efficient charge separation. The corresponding charge transfer and degradation mechanisms are also proposed.

Water pollution is a global challenge endangering people's health. In this work, an ultra-efficient photodegradation system of Rhodamine B (RhB) has been established using a graphitic carbon nitride nanosheet (CNNS) as the semiconductor photocatalyst, from which energy is harvested on both the conduction band and valence band by formic acid and hydrogen peroxide, respectively. The optimized FA/H 2 O 2 /CNNS system increases the apparent photodegradation rate of RhB by 25 folds, from 0.0198 to 0.4975 min −1 . Through a comprehensive investigation with reactive oxygen species scavengers, electron paramagnetic resonance, high-performance liquid chromatography−mass spectrometry, etc., an oxidative mechanism for RhB photodegradation has been proposed, which combines enhanced charge carrier migration and synergistic generation of multiple radicals. Comparable performance improvements have also been observed for similar systems with different semiconductors, suggesting that such a catalytic system could afford a general approach to enhance semiconductor−catalyzed photodegradation.