Environmental
remediation employing semiconducting materials offer
a greener solution for pollution control. Herein, we report the development
of high surface area porous architecture of C3N4 nanosheets by a simple aqueous spray drying process. g-C3N4 nanosheets obtained by the thermal decomposition of
urea-thiourea mixture are spray granulated to microspheres using 2
wt% poly vinyl alcohol (PVA) as binder. The post granulation thermal
oxidation treatment resulted in in situ doping of carbon leading to
improved photophysical properties compared to pristine g-C3N4. The C3N4 granules with surface
area values of 150 m2/g rendered repetitive adsorption
of tetracycline antibiotic (∼75% in 60 min) and the extended
absorption in the visible region facilitated complete photocatalytic
degradation upon sunlight irradiation (>95% in 90 min). The delocalized
π bonds generated after carbon doping and the macro-meso porous
architecture created by the granulation process aided high adsorption
capacity (70 mg/g). The photoregenerable, bifunctional materials herein
obtained can thus be employed for the adsorption and subsequent degradation
of harmful organic pollutants without any secondary remediation processes.
Three new lanthanide metal–organic
frameworks IRHs-(1–3) supported by cyamelurate
linkers have been synthesized and structurally characterized. The
incorporation of numerous heteroatoms (N and O) into the pore walls
and the relatively small microchannels of these porous solids enhance
bonding force of the host–guest interactions, thus promoting
the adsorption of carbon dioxide (CO2) over methane (CH4). The nonpolar covalent bonds in methane also favor the less
uptake due to the hydrophilic walls of these frameworks. Grand canonical
Monte Carlo simulations were performed to determine the origin of
the adsorption. The density isocontour surfaces show that CO2 is mainly adsorbed on the walls composed of organic linkers and
around the metal sites, whereas no specific adsorption site is observed
for CH4, which indicates weak interactions between the
framework and the adsorbed gas. As expected, the simulations show
that CH4 is not observed around the metal center due to
the presence of H2O molecules. The excellent selectivity
of CO2/CH4 binary mixture was predicted by the
ideal adsorbed solution theory (IAST) via correlating
pure component adsorption isotherms with the Toth model. At 25 °C
and 1 bar, the CO2 and CH4 uptakes for IRH-3 were 2.7 and 0.07 mol/kg, respectively, and the IAST predicated
selectivity for CO2/CH4 (1:1) reached 27, which
is among the best value for MOF materials.
MOPs and MMOPs were synthesized in water and their crystals exhibit switchable chromic behaviour and reversible solid-state structural transformations.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.