Photocatalysis: Single‐Atom Engineering of Directional Charge Transfer Channels and Active Sites for Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution (Adv. Funct. Mater. 32/2018)

Abstract

In article number https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.201802169, Jiaguo Yu, Hao Ming Chen, and co‐workers demonstrate the construction of a single‐atom engineered Pd/g‐CN hybrid with directional charge transfer channels and targeting active sites by interlayer intercalation and a surface anchor of Pd atoms. This unique material shows excellent charge transfer/separation and efficient photocatalytic hydrogen evolution.

3D Graphene‐Based H2‐Production Photocatalyst and Electrocatalyst

“…So far, many strategies have been developed to improve the light absorption ability of photocatalysts including surface modification, heteroatom doping, plasmonic metal deposition and so on. [ 99–104 ] In particular, compositing the semiconductor with carbonaceous motifs (such as graphene, [ 16 ] graphdiyne, [ 105 ] amorphous carbon, [ 106 ] MXene, [ 107 ] etc.) has been recognized to significantly improve the light absorption efficiency owing to their black color characteristic.…”

“…Therefore, the preparation of a semiconductor photocatalyst with bandgap between 1.5 and 3.1 eV and being simultaneously responsive to visible light has been considered as an important research direction. So far, many strategies have been developed to improve the light absorption ability of photocatalysts including surface modification, heteroatom doping, plasmonic metal deposition and so on 99–104. In particular, compositing the semiconductor with carbonaceous motifs (such as graphene,16 graphdiyne,105 amorphous carbon,106 MXene,107 etc.)…”

Graphitic Carbon Nitride with Dopant Induced Charge Localization for Enhanced Photoreduction of CO2 to CH4

“…The localized electrons on N atoms indicate that electrons are hard to transfer from N atoms to C atoms. Furthermore, the excited electrons (from N atoms to C atoms) need to re‐transfer from C atoms to the N atoms (active sites) for catalytic reaction, which bring the high recombination rate of charge carriers and the low reaction efficiency of g‐C 3 N 4 . We therefore take the view that introducing modifier elements—atoms that could tune the electron excitation, transfer and localization in g‐C 3 N 4 —would contribute to the improvement of charge transfer, separation, and reaction dynamics…”

Single Metal Atom Photocatalysis

“…As another promising photocatalyst, g‐C 3 N 4 possesses excellent visible light absorption, high stability, and capability to provide abundant N donor atoms to trap highly active metal atoms. Thus, it has been extensively explored as a support to anchor various metal atoms, including noble metal atoms (Pt, Pd, Ag) and nonprecious metal atoms (Al, Co). By a simple liquid‐phase reaction with g‐C 3 N 4 and H 2 PtCl 6 followed by annealing at a low temperature, Xie and co‐workers embedded single Pt atoms on the top of the five‐membered rings of the g‐C 3 N 4 network through PtC and PtN bonds .…”