Time-Resolved Study on Xanthene Dye-Sensitized Carbon Nitride Photocatalytic Systems

Unravelling the doping effect of potassium ions on structural modulation and photocatalytic activity of graphitic carbon nitride

Graphitic carbon nitride (GCN), as a promising photocatalyst, has been intensely investigated in the photocatalytic fields, but its performance is still unsatisfactory. To date, metal ion doping has been proven to be an effective modification method to improve the photocatalytic activity of GCN. More importantly, comprehensive understanding of the doping mechanism will be of benefit to synthesize efficient GCN based photocatalysts. In this work, K⁺-doped GCN samples were prepared via heating the mixture of the preheated melamine and a certain amount of KCl at different synthetic temperatures. XRD and Raman characterization studies indicated that the introduction of K⁺ could improve its crystallinity at higher temperature but reduce its crystallinity at lower temperature. Moreover, FTIR and SEM-EDS measurements implied that K⁺ are found dominantly in the surface of the ion-doped sample prepared at lower temperature, while they are found both in the surface and bulk of the ion-doped sample prepared at higher temperature. These observations revealed that K⁺ distributed in the surface of the ion-doped GCN could inhibit its crystal growth, while K⁺ distributed inside of the ion-doped GCN could promote its crystallinity. Owing to the greater inducing effect of the bulk K⁺ than the disturbing effect of the surface K⁺, the improvement of the crystallinity for K⁺-doped GCN was achieved. As a result, the K⁺-doped GCN with higher crystallinity yielded an obviously higher H₂ evolution rate than that with lower crystallinity under visible light irradiation (>420 nm). Besides, it was observed that the K⁺-doped GCN prepared at higher temperature exhibits significantly greater adsorption capacity for methylene blue than the K⁺-doped GCN prepared at lower temperature. This work would provide an insight into optimizing metal ion doped GCN with high photocatalytic activity.

Binary Type-II Heterojunction K7HNb6O19/g-C3N4: An Effective Photocatalyst for Hydrogen Evolution without a Co-Catalyst

The binary type-II heterojunction photocatalyst containing g-C₃N₄ and polyoxoniobate (PONb, K₇HNb₆O₁₉) with excellent H₂ production activity was synthesized by decorating via a facile hydrothermal method for the first time. The as-fabricated Nb–CN-0.4 composite displayed a maximum hydrogen evolution rate of 359.89 µmol g⁻¹ h⁻¹ without a co-catalyst under the irradiation of a 300 W Xenon Lamp, which is the highest among those of the binary PONb-based photocatalytic materials reported. The photophysical and photochemistry analyses indicated that the hydrogen evolution performance could be attributed to the formation of a type-II heterojunction, which could not only accelerate the transfer of photoinduced interfacial charges, but also effectively inhibit the recombination of electrons and holes. This work could provide a useful reference to develop an inexpensive and efficient photocatalytic system based on PONb towards H₂ production.

A comparison study of sodium ion- and potassium ion-modified graphitic carbon nitride for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

It is well known that modifying graphitic carbon nitride (GCN) is an imperative strategy to improve its photocatalytic activity. In this study, Na-doped and K-doped graphitic carbon nitride (GCN-Na and GCN-K) were prepared via the simple thermal polymerization of a mixture of melamine and NaCl or KCl, respectively. The structure characterization showed that both Na⁺ and K⁺ intercalation could reduce the interlayer distance of GCN and introduce cyano defects in GCN, while K⁺ apparently had a stronger influence on the structure variation of GCN. The chemical composition data showed that both Na⁺ and K⁺ could easily interact with GCN, while K-doping caused a greater change in the C/N ratio than Na-doping. Moreover, compared to GCN-Na-5 (5 represents weight ratio of alkali halide to melamine), the conduction and valence bands of GCN-K-5 both shifted upward based on the electronic and optical measurements. Consequently, GCN-K-5 yielded an H₂ evolution rate around 4 times higher than that of GCN-Na-5 under visible light irradiation (>420 nm). The cation size effect on GCN was proposed to be mainly responsible for the variation in the structure, optical and electronic properties of ion-doped GCNs, and hence the enhanced photocatalytic H₂ evolution. The current work can provide new insight into optimizing photocatalysts for enhanced photocatalytic performances.

The ion size effect on graphitic carbon nitride is responsible for variations in its structure, optical and electronic properties, and hence the enhancement in photocatalytic hydrogen evolution.

Electrostatic interaction mechanism of visible light absorption broadening in ion-doped graphitic carbon nitride

H₂O₂ treated K-doped graphitic carbon nitride presents an enhanced visible light absorption, which is due to the electrostatic attraction between K ions and OOH ions inside graphitic carbon nitride.

Incorporating p-Phenylene as an Electron-Donating Group into Graphitic Carbon Nitride for Efficient Charge Separation

Low charge-separation transport efficiency resulting from structural defects largely limits photocatalytic hydrogen production over polymeric graphitic carbon nitride (PCN) photocatalyst. Herein, an electron-donating group, namely p-phenylene, is incorporated into PCN by a polycondensation reaction between carbon nitride and p-phenylenediamine (or p-benzoquinone) to repair the structural defects. The p-phenylene-modified PCN exhibits an almost fivefold increase in H₂ evolution, a threefold increase in photocurrent density, and higher nonradiative rate (0.285 ns^-1 ). Spectroscopic studies confirm that p-phenylene tends to bridge the heptazine-based oligomers through a polycondensation reaction. Theoretical calculations reveal that anchoring of the heptazine units by p-phenylene induces localization of h⁺ and e^- on the phenylene and melem moieties, respectively, which effectively separates the charge carriers. This strategy provides an opportunity to overcome structural defects in carbon nitride for efficient photocatalytic solar energy conversion.

High-Performance Photoelectrochemical Water Oxidation with Phosphorus-Doped and Metal Phosphide Cocatalyst-Modified g-C3 N4 Formation Through Gas Treatment

Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C₃ N₄ ) has been widely explored as a photocatalyst for water splitting. The anodic water oxidation reaction (WOR) remains a major obstacle for such processes, with issues such as low surface area of g-C₃ N₄ , poor light absorption, and low charge-transfer efficiency. In this work, such longtime concerns have been partially addressed with band gap and surface engineering of nanostructured graphitic carbon nitride (g-C₃ N₄ ). Specifically, surface area and charge-transfer efficiency are significantly enhanced through architecting g-C₃ N₄ on nanorod TiO₂ to avoid aggregation of layered g-C₃ N₄ . Moreover, a simple phosphide gas treatment of TiO₂ /g-C₃ N₄ configuration not only narrows the band gap of g-C₃ N₄ by 0.57 eV shifting it into visible range but also generates in situ a metal phosphide (M=Fe, Cu) water oxidation cocatalyst. This TiO₂ /g-C₃ N₄ /FeP configuration significantly improves charge separation and transfer capability. As a result, our non-noble-metal photoelectrochemical system yields outstanding visible light (>420 nm) photocurrent: approximately 0.3 mA cm^-2 at 1.23 V and 1.1 mA cm^-2 at 2.0 V versus RHE, which is the highest for a g-C₃ N₄ -based photoanode. It is expected that the TiO₂ /g-C₃ N₄ /FeP configuration synthesized by a simple phosphide gas treatment will provide new insight for producing robust g-C₃ N₄ for water oxidation.

Photocatalytic regeneration of brominating agent in the visible light-mediated synthesis of imidazo[1,2-a]pyridines

Regenerating the brominating agent by erythrosine B closes a catalytic cycle for the construction of the imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine framework.

Boosting the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution activity of g-C3N4 nanosheets by Cu2(OH)2CO3-modification and dye-sensitization

The positive synergetic effects among g-C₃N₄, Cu₂(OH)₂CO₃ and fluorescein dramatically boost the H₂-evolution activity over a fluorescein-sensitized Cu₂(OH)₂CO₃/g-C₃N₄ photocatalyst.

Eosin Y-sensitized partially oxidized Ti3C2 MXene for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

Ti₃C₂, though one of the most extensively studied 2D MXenes, is rarely reported in dye-sensitized photocatalysis.

Photophysics and Photocatalysis of Melem: A Spectroscopic Reinvestigation

Graphitic carbon nitride (g-CN) is one potential metal-free photocatalyst. The photocatalytic mechanism of g-CN is related to the heptazine ring building unit. Melem is the simplest heptazine-based compound and g-CN is its polymeric product. Thus, studies on the photophysical properties of melem will help to understand the photocatalytic mechanism of heptazine-based materials. Herein, the spectroscopic features of melem were systematically explored through measuring its absorption spectrum, fluorescence spectrum, and fluorescence decay. Both fluorescence spectroscopy and fluorescence decay measurements show that the condensation of melamine to melem causes stronger photoluminescence, whereas the condensation of melem to g-CN causes weaker photoluminescence. In addition, all observations reveal that a mixture of monomer melem and its higher condensates is more easily obtained during the preparation of melem, and that the higher condensates of melem affect the photophysical properties of melem dominantly. The photocatalytic hydrogen evolution of melem has also been measured and the monomer melem has negligible photoinduced water-splitting activity.

Interaction between triethanolamine and singlet or triplet excited state of xanthene dyes in aqueous solution

Triethanolamine (TEOA) has been often used as a hole-scavenger in dye-sensitized semiconductor photocatalytic systems. However, the femtosecond time-resolved kinetics of the interaction between a sensitized dye and TEOA has not been reported in literatures. Herein, we selected four commonly used xanthene dyes, such as fluorescein, dibromofluorescein, eosin Y, and erythrosine B, and studied their ultrafast fluorescence quenching dynamics in the presence of TEOA in aqueous solution, respectively, by using both femtosecond transient absorption and time-resolved fluorescence measurements. We obtained the electron transfer rate from TEOA to each photoexcited xanthene dye in 2.0 M TEOA solution. We also obtained the intersystem crossing rate of each xanthene dye in aqueous solution with fluorescence quantum yield and lifetime measurements. Finally we found that TEOA mainly interacts with the singlet excited-state of fluorescein, dibromofluorescein, and eosin Y, and that TEOA can interact with both the singlet and triplet excited-states of erythrosine B in high concentration of TEOA aqueous solution.

Dissecting Multivalent Lectin-Carbohydrate Recognition Using Polyvalent Multifunctional Glycan-Quantum Dots

Multivalent protein-carbohydrate interactions initiate the first contacts between virus/bacteria and target cells, which ultimately lead to infection. Understanding the structures and binding modes involved is vital to the design of specific, potent multivalent inhibitors. However, the lack of structural information on such flexible, complex, and multimeric cell surface membrane proteins has often hampered such endeavors. Herein, we report that quantum dots (QDs) displayed with a dense array of mono-/disaccharides are powerful probes for multivalent protein-glycan interactions. Using a pair of closely related tetrameric lectins, DC-SIGN and DC-SIGNR, which bind to the HIV and Ebola virus glycoproteins (EBOV-GP) to augment viral entry and infect target cells, we show that such QDs efficiently dissect the different DC-SIGN/R-glycan binding modes (tetra-/di-/monovalent) through a combination of multimodal readouts: Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET), hydrodynamic size measurement, and transmission electron microscopy imaging. We also report a new QD-FRET method for quantifying QD-DC-SIGN/R binding affinity, revealing that DC-SIGN binds to the QD >100-fold tighter than does DC-SIGNR. This result is consistent with DC-SIGN's higher trans-infection efficiency of some HIV strains over DC-SIGNR. Finally, we show that the QDs potently inhibit DC-SIGN-mediated enhancement of EBOV-GP-driven transduction of target cells with IC50 values down to 0.7 nM, matching well to their DC-SIGN binding constant (apparent Kd = 0.6 nM) measured by FRET. These results suggest that the glycan-QDs are powerful multifunctional probes for dissecting multivalent protein-ligand recognition and predicting glyconanoparticle inhibition of virus infection at the cellular level.

Integrated oxygen-doping and dye sensitization of graphitic carbon nitride for enhanced visible light photodegradation

Graphitic carbon nitride (GCN) is a promising metal-free photocatalyst while suffering from low charge mobility induced inefficient photocatalysis. In this work, oxygen doping was employed to enhance the photodegradation of organic pollutants in water on graphitic carbon nitride (GCNO) under visible light. For further absorption extension, four organic dyes (Eosin-Y, Perylene, Nile-red and Coumarin) were adopted to dye-sensitize the GCNO photocatalyst. It was found that O-doping can promote dye sensitization, which was dependent on the type of dyes and influenced the photodegradation efficiencies of methylene blue (MB) and phenol. Nile-red sensitized GCNO presented the best activity in MB degradation under λ>480nm irradiations while Eosin-Y showed the best sensitization performance for phenol degradation under λ>420nm light source. However, dye sensitization was not effective for enhanced pollutant degradation on GCN without O-doping. UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectra (UV-vis DRS), photoluminescence (PL) spectra, and photocurrent analyses were applied to investigate the mechanism of carriers' transfer, which indicated that dye molecules could inject extra electrons into GCNO energy band and the energy dislocation could suppress electron/hole recombination, enhancing photocatalytic performances.

Improving the photocatalytic hydrogen production of Ag/g-C3N4 nanocomposites by dye-sensitization under visible light irradiation

Ag nanoparticles were deposited on the surface of g-C3N4 by a chemical reduction method to increase visible-light absorption via the localized surface plasmon resonance effect, resulting in the reduced recombination of photo-generated electron-holes and enhanced photocatalytic activity. The Ag/g-C3N4 composite with a Ag loading of 3 wt% has the optimum photoactivity that is almost 3.6 and 3.4 times higher than pure g-C3N4 and the same photocatalysis system which has been reported, respectively. Fluorescein was introduced as a photosensitizer and H2 evolution soared to 2014.20 μmol g(-1) h(-1) and the rate is even about 4.8 times higher than that of the 3 wt% Ag/g-C3N4 composite. The chemical structure, composites, morphologies and optical properties of the obtained products are well-characterized by XRD, FTIR, TEM, EDS, XPS and UV-Vis DRS. Meanwhile, the photocatalyst exhibits high stability and reusability.

Efficient photocatalytic hydrogen production over eosin Y-sensitized MoS2

An uncapped and agglomerated MoS₂ catalyst was solvothermally synthesized and exhibited excellent hydrogen production activity under sensitization of eosin Y.

Recent advances in non-metal modification of graphitic carbon nitride for photocatalysis: a historic review

This review provides a comprehensive survey and critical comments on the development of photocatalysts with a focus on the metal-free materials.

Charge carrier kinetics of carbon nitride colloid: a femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy study

The charge carrier kinetics of carbon nitride colloid was investigated using a combination of femtosecond transient absorption and picosecond time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy.