Photocatalytic water splitting is one of the promising approaches to solving environmental problems and energy crises. However, the sluggish 4e− transfer kinetics in water oxidation half-reaction restricts the 2e− reduction efficiency in photocatalytic water splitting. Herein, cobalt vanadate-decorated polymeric carbon nitride (named CoVO/PCN) was constructed to mediate the carrier kinetic process in a photocatalytic water oxidation reaction (WOR). The photocatalysts were well-characterized by various physicochemical techniques such as XRD, FT-IR, TEM, and XPS. Under UV and visible light irradiation, the O2 evolution rate of optimized 3 wt% CoVO/PCN reached 467 and 200 μmol h−1 g−1, which were about 6.5 and 5.9 times higher than that of PCN, respectively. Electrochemical tests and PL results reveal that the recombination of photogenerated carriers on PCN is effectively suppressed and the kinetics of WOR is significantly enhanced after CoVO introduction. This work highlights key features of the tuning carrier kinetics of PCN using charge-conducting materials, which should be the basis for the further development of photocatalytic O2 reactions.
In recent studies, phase junctions constructed as photocatalysts have been found to possess great prospects for organic degradation with visible light. In this study, we designed an elaborate rhombohedral corundum/cubic In2O3 phase junction (named MIO) combined with polymeric carbon nitride (PCN) via an in situ calcination method. The performance of the MIO/PCN composites was measured by photodegradation of Rhodamine B under LED light (λ = 420 nm) irradiation. The excellent performance of MIO/PCN could be attributed to the intimate interface contact between MIO and PCN, which provides a reliable charge transmission channel, thereby improving the separation efficiency of charge carriers. Photocatalytic degradation experiments with different quenchers were also executed. The results suggest that the superoxide anion radicals (O2−) and hydroxyl radicals (·OH) played the main roles in the reaction, as opposed to the other scavengers. Moreover, the stability of the MIO/PCN composites was particularly good in the four cycling photocatalytic reactions. This work illustrates that MOF-modified materials have great potential for solving environmental pollution without creating secondary pollution.
Catalysis is the most efficient and economical method for treating volatile organic pollutants (VOCs). Among the many materials that are used in engineering, platinized carbon nitride (Pt/g-C3N4) is an efficient and multifunctional catalyst which has strong light absorption and mass transfer capabilities, which enable it to be used in photocatalysis, thermal catalysis and photothermal synergistic catalysis for the degradation of benzene. In this work, Pt/g-C3N4 was prepared by four precursors for the photothermal synergistic catalytic degradation of benzene, which show different activities, and many tests were carried out to explore the possible reasons for the discrepancy. Among them, the Pt/g-C3N4 prepared from dicyanamide showed the highest activity and could convert benzene (300 ppm, 20 mL·min−1) completely at 162 °C under solar light and 173 °C under visible light. The reaction temperature was reduced by nearly half compared to the traditional thermal catalytic degradation of benzene at about 300 °C.
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