Solar Reforming of Biomass with Homogeneous Carbon Dots

Abstract

A sunlight‐powered process is reported that employs carbon dots (CDs) as light absorbers for the conversion of lignocellulose into sustainable H2 fuel and organics. This photocatalytic system operates in pure and untreated sea water at benign pH (2–8) and ambient temperature and pressure. The CDs can be produced in a scalable synthesis directly from biomass itself and their solubility allows for good interactions with the insoluble biomass substrates. They also display excellent photophysical properties with a high fraction of long‐lived charge carriers and the availability of a reductive and an oxidative quenching pathway. The presented CD‐based biomass photoconversion system opens new avenues for sustainable, practical, and renewable fuel production through biomass valorization.

Multicolor Carbon Dots Prepared by Single‐Factor Control of Graphitization and Surface Oxidation for High‐Quality White Light‐Emitting Diodes

“…It has shown a great potential application value, especially in fields such as biological imaging, [1,2] drug release, [3,4] fluorescent probes, [5,6] optoelectronic devices, [7,8] and photocatalysis. [9,10] Since CDs were discovered in 2004, various synthetic methods have been developed, including arc discharge, [11] laser ablation, [12] chemical oxidation, [13] microwave-assisted, [14,15] hydrothermal, [16][17][18] solvothermal, [19][20] and solution chemistry. [21] However, in the early days most CDs obtained using these methods emitted blue or green fluorescence with a lower fluorescence quantum yield (QY), which significantly limits their further application.…”

“…It has shown a great potential application value, especially in fields such as biological imaging, [ 1,2 ] drug release, [ 3,4 ] fluorescent probes, [ 5,6 ] optoelectronic devices, [ 7,8 ] and photocatalysis. [ 9,10 ]…”

Introduction of the year 2020

“…Notably, the process occurs efficiently also in untreated seawater. 80 CdS nanosheet catalyst have been employed in the light driven synthesis of amino acids (and the concomitant production of hydrogen) from biomass-derived a-hydroxyl acids with a remarkable activity (up to 10.5 mmol g À1 h À1 in the case of alanine). 81 Wang et al described the BiVO 4 -catalyzed photoelectrochemical oxidation of lignin to aliphatic and aromatic acids and acid derivatives along with biocatalytic reduction reactions such as the CO 2 -to-formate process (see Fig.…”

Recent development of organic–inorganic hybrid photocatalysts for biomass conversion into hydrogen production

“…The hybrid samples seem to be unstable under photocatalytic conditions, and the organic counterpart undergoes degradation during the reaction. 96 Demetra S. Achilleos et al (2020) 97 reported a process that uses carbon dots (CDs) synthesized using the calcination of cellulose, and commercial precursors like aspartic acid or citric acid as the photocatalyst, which absorbs light for lignocellulose conversion into hydrogen and other organic components (Fig. 19).…”

“…(b) CDs are prepared using biomass (a-cellulose) or commercial precursors (citric, aspartic acid), NiP as the cocatalyst in the PR of biomass to produce hydrogen. 97 Copyright 2020, Angewandte Chemie.…”