Carbonate mediated hole transfer boosting the photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants over carbon nitride nanosheets

Authors：Xiao, Hong; Zhang, Qi; Ahmad, Munir; Dong, Shanshan; Zhang, Yanzong; Fang, Dexin; Wang, Xiaojing; Peng, Hong; Lei, Yongjia; Wu, Ganxue; Bai, Yanfu; Deng, Shihuai; Ye, Fei^*; Zeng, Zhenxing^*

Source：SEPARATION AND PURIFICATION TECHNOLOGY, 2023, 306: 122580.

DOI：10.1016/j.seppur.2022.122580

• Photocatalysis
• Carbon nitride nanosheet
• Carbonate mediated hole transfer
• &bull
• CO3(-) CO32 redox shuttle
• Organic pollutants degradation

Inspired by the important role of the manganese enzyme in photo-induced hole transfer of natural photosyn-thesis, we have developed an innovative carbonate-mediated-hole-transfer strategy for boosting the photo -catalytic degradation of organic pollutants. We found that the carbonate species can effectively extract the photo -generated hole in the valence band of carbon nitride to generate .CO3- and leaves electron in the conduction band for oxygen reduction to generate & BULL;OH. The generated & BULL;CO3? can be returned to its pristine state of CO32? via the oxidation of organic pollutants. The unique & BULL;CO3?/CO32? shuttle could largely improve the charge separation via the fast hole extraction that leads to enhanced & BULL;OH generation for accelerating the photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants. As expected, the as-prepared carbon nitride exhibits markedly enhanced photocatalytic performance toward formaldehyde, p-chlorophenol, and phenol degradation than the one without carbonate as additive. The conceptual study demonstrated here may offer new viewpoints in designing high-efficient pho-tocatalytic systems for environmental applications.

• Institution
  燕山大学; 南昌航空大学