Interfacial Affinity Determined Photocatalytic Activity: A Comparison between Defective and Bulk Polymeric Carbon Nitride

Abstract

The photoexcited charge separation efficiency of photocatalysts is generally considered as the key factor for enhancement of their photocatalytic activity, and sometimes, their photoabsorption capability and interfacial reaction kinetics play a key part, but the role of interfacial affinity of photocatalysts with substrates was rarely researched systematically. Herein, nitrogen vacancy-modified polymeric carbon nitride porous nanotubes (PCNpts) were simply synthesized, using tartaric acid as a crosslinking and corrosion agent, and exhibit a remarkable increment in surface area, wettability, photoabsorption and charge separation capability, and photocatalytic activity in water splitting to produce H 2 , but, interestingly, exhibit substrate-dependent variation of photoactivity in contaminant degradation, compared with bulk PCN. More interestingly, the interfacial affinity of PCNpts and PCN with contaminants and H 2 O, rather than photoabsorption and charge separation capability, is confirmed to dominate their photoactivity.

Preparation of Oxygen-Doping Nongraphitic Carbon Nitride via Efficiency Exfoliation for the Application of Photocatalytic Degradation

“…The conversion of solar energy into value-added chemical energy is attracting worldwide attention for its potential to address growing energy needs and environmental crises. , Photocatalysis has great potential in the degradation of organic pollutants due to its advantages of environmental friendliness and good reusability. , Among them, semiconductor photocatalysis is effective for removing organic pollutants from water . Since the discovery of metal-free graphitic phase carbon nitride (g-C 3 N 4 ) with visible photocatalytic decomposition of water by Wang et al in 2008, g-C 3 N 4 has been playing an increasingly important role in photocatalytic hydrogen production, organic pollutant degradation, , and environmental pollution remediation due to its low cost, nontoxicity, good visible light response, and suitable electron energy band structure .…”