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Hou S, Gao X, Lv X, Zhao Y, Yin X, Liu Y, Fang J, Yu X, Ma X, Ma T, Su D. Decade Milestone Advancement of Defect-Engineered g-C 3N 4 for Solar Catalytic Applications. Nanomicro Lett 2024; 16:70. [PMID: 38175329 PMCID: PMC10766942 DOI: 10.1007/s40820-023-01297-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2023] [Accepted: 11/17/2023] [Indexed: 01/05/2024]
Abstract
Over the past decade, graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) has emerged as a universal photocatalyst toward various sustainable carbo-neutral technologies. Despite solar applications discrepancy, g-C3N4 is still confronted with a general fatal issue of insufficient supply of thermodynamically active photocarriers due to its inferior solar harvesting ability and sluggish charge transfer dynamics. Fortunately, this could be significantly alleviated by the "all-in-one" defect engineering strategy, which enables a simultaneous amelioration of both textural uniqueness and intrinsic electronic band structures. To this end, we have summarized an unprecedently comprehensive discussion on defect controls including the vacancy/non-metallic dopant creation with optimized electronic band structure and electronic density, metallic doping with ultra-active coordinated environment (M-Nx, M-C2N2, M-O bonding), functional group grafting with optimized band structure, and promoted crystallinity with extended conjugation π system with weakened interlayered van der Waals interaction. Among them, the defect states induced by various defect types such as N vacancy, P/S/halogen dopants, and cyano group in boosting solar harvesting and accelerating photocarrier transfer have also been emphasized. More importantly, the shallow defect traps identified by femtosecond transient absorption spectra (fs-TAS) have also been highlighted. It is believed that this review would pave the way for future readers with a unique insight into a more precise defective g-C3N4 "customization", motivating more profound thinking and flourishing research outputs on g-C3N4-based photocatalysis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shaoqi Hou
- School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Sydney, NSW, 2007, Australia
| | - Xiaochun Gao
- Laboratory of Plasma and Energy Conversion, School of Physics and Optoelectronic Engineering, Ludong University, 186 Middle Hongqi Road, Yantai, 264025, People's Republic of China.
| | - Xingyue Lv
- Laboratory of Plasma and Energy Conversion, School of Physics and Optoelectronic Engineering, Ludong University, 186 Middle Hongqi Road, Yantai, 264025, People's Republic of China
| | - Yilin Zhao
- Laboratory of Plasma and Energy Conversion, School of Physics and Optoelectronic Engineering, Ludong University, 186 Middle Hongqi Road, Yantai, 264025, People's Republic of China
| | - Xitao Yin
- Laboratory of Plasma and Energy Conversion, School of Physics and Optoelectronic Engineering, Ludong University, 186 Middle Hongqi Road, Yantai, 264025, People's Republic of China
| | - Ying Liu
- Laboratory of Plasma and Energy Conversion, School of Physics and Optoelectronic Engineering, Ludong University, 186 Middle Hongqi Road, Yantai, 264025, People's Republic of China
| | - Juan Fang
- School of Energy and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, People's Republic of China
| | - Xingxing Yu
- Department of Chemistry, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hogo, Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Xiaoguang Ma
- Laboratory of Plasma and Energy Conversion, School of Physics and Optoelectronic Engineering, Ludong University, 186 Middle Hongqi Road, Yantai, 264025, People's Republic of China.
| | - Tianyi Ma
- School of Science, STEM College, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC, 3000, Australia.
| | - Dawei Su
- School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Sydney, NSW, 2007, Australia.
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Hilal M, Yang W. A dual-functional flexible sensor based on defects-free Co-doped ZnO nanorods decorated with CoO clusters towards pH and glucose monitoring of fruit juices and human fluids. Nano Converg 2022; 9:14. [PMID: 35316419 PMCID: PMC8941038 DOI: 10.1186/s40580-022-00305-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2022] [Accepted: 03/06/2022] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
Herein, ZnO nanorods were doped with Co and decorated with CoO clusters through an in situ technique to create a CoO/Co-doped ZnO (CO/CZO) heterostructure at low temperatures (150 °C) on a flexible PET substrate. In the CO/CZO heterostructure, the Co dopant has a low energy barrier to substitute Zn atoms and adsorb over oxygen atoms and their vacancies. Therefore, it decreased the charge density (ND = 2.64 × 1019 cm-3) on non-active sites of ZnO and lowered the charge transfer resistance (317 Ω) at Co-doped-ZnO/electrolyte interface by suppressing the native defects and reducing the Schottky barrier height (- 0.35 eV), respectively. Furthermore, CoO clusters induced a p-n heterostructure with Co-doped ZnO, prevented corrosion, increased the active sites for analyte absorption, and increased the ultimate tensile strength (4.85 N m-2). These characteristics enabled the CO/CZO heterostructure to work as a highly sensitive, chemically stable, and flexible pH and glucose oxidation electrode. Therefore, CO/CZO heterostructure was explored for pH monitoring in human fluids and fruit juices, demonstrating a near-Nernst-limit pH sensitivity (52 mV/pH) and fast response time (19 s) in each human fluid and fruit juice. Also, it demonstrated high sensitivity (4656 µM mM-1 cm-2), low limit of detection (0.15 µM), a broad linear range (0.04 mM to 8.85 mM) and good anti-interference capacity towards glucose-sensing. Moreover, it demonstrated excellent flexibility performances, retained 53% and 69% sensitivity of the initial value for pH and glucose sensors, respectively, after 500 bending, stretching, and warping cycles.
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Affiliation(s)
- Muhammad Hilal
- Department of Physics, Dongguk University, Seoul, 04620, Republic of Korea
| | - Woochul Yang
- Department of Physics, Dongguk University, Seoul, 04620, Republic of Korea.
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