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Research Article

Boosting the photo-induced charge transfer in melon by lengthening the melon chains through a facile regrowth approach

Tongtong Li1,2, Shulan Wang1, Li Li3( ), Xiaohua Yu4, Huaze Zhu2, Ningdong Feng5, Ju Rong4, Yongqiang Yang2( ), Gang Liu2
Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, China
Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science, Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Science, Shenyang 110016, China
School of Metallurgy, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, China
Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming 650093, China
State Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance and Atomic Molecular Physics, Wuhan Center for Magnetic Resonance Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance in Biological Systems, Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430071, China
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Graphical Abstract

With a facile regrowth approach, the melon chains in carbon nitride were experimentally lengthened, thus leading to dramatically improved structure order and boosted transfer of photo-induced electrons and holes.

Abstract

Melon-derived carbon nitride photocatalysts are a kind of star layered materials applied in solar energy conversion. With in-plane π orbitals of the heptazine subunits and their overlap along the melon chains being the most distinctive feature, the condition of melon chains is of great importance for the atomic and energy band structures of carbon nitride photocatalysts as well as their photo-activities. In principle, fragmentized melon chains in practical carbon nitride would lead to unfavorable structure disorder both in longitudinal and vertical directions, thus inhibiting the efficient transfer for photo-induced electrons and holes, respectively. Here, with a facile regrowth approach, that is to treat carbon nitride under the atmosphere containing C/N species, the melon chains in carbon nitride were experimentally lengthened, which was reflected by the regularly fraction variation of different nitrogen species derived from X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis. The prolonged melon chains led to dramatically improved in-plane structure order and boosted transfer of photo-induced electrons and holes, which were confirmed by the spontaneous photo-deposition of oxidants and reductants. The combination of this regrowth approach with homogenously distributed nitrogen vacancies resulted in much enhanced visible-light-responsive photoactivities. Besides, control experiments using nitrogen-vacancy-free carbon nitride and different C/N-contained precursors showed the compatibility as well as the critical factors for the lengthening effects of the regrowth approach. We hope that the facile but efficient regrowth approach could be widely adopted in melon-derived carbon nitride photocatalysts used for various applications.

Keywords

carbon nitridemelon chainsstructure orderphotocatalytic hydrogen evolutioncharge transfercharge separation

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Nano Research
Volume 16 Issue 2,
February 2023
Pages 2076-2084
DOI: 10.1007/s12274-022-4896-z
Cite this article:
Li T, Wang S, Li L, et al. Boosting the photo-induced charge transfer in melon by lengthening the melon chains through a facile regrowth approach. Nano Research, 2023, 16(2): 2076-2084. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-4896-z
Topics:
Photocatalysts

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Received: 15 July 2022
Revised: 07 August 2022
Accepted: 10 August 2022
Published: 12 September 2022
© Tsinghua University Press 2022
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