Miniaturized electrochemical sensors and their point-of-care applications

Most of the current analytical methods depend largely on laboratory-based analytical techniques that require expensive and bullky equipment,potentially incur costly testing,and involve lengthy detection processes.With increasing requirements for point-of-care testing(POCT),more attention has been paid to miniaturized analytical devices.Miniaturized electrochemical(MEC)sensors,including different material-based MEC sensors(such as DNA-,paper-,and screen electrode-based),have been in strong demand in analytical science due to their easy operation,portability,high sensitivity,as well as their short analysis time.They have been applied for the detection of trace amounts of target through measuring changes in electrochemical signal,such as current,voltage,potential,or impedance,due to the oxidation/reduction of chemical/biological molecules with the help of electrodes and electrochemical units.MEC sensors present great potential for the detection of targets including small organic molecules,metal ions,and biomolecules.In recent years,MEC sensors have been broadly applied to POCT in various fields,including health care,food safety,and environmental monitoring,owing to the excellent advantages of electrochemical(EC)technologies.This review summarized the state-of-the-art advancements on various types of MEC sensors and their applications in POCT.Furthermore,the future perspectives,opportunities,and challenges in this field are also discussed.     

Machine Learning towards Screening Solid-state Lithium Ion Conductors

Machine learning is an emerging method to discover new materials with specific characteristics.An unsupervised machine learning research is highlighted to discover new potential lithium ionic conductors by screening and clustering lithium compounds,providing inspirations for the development of solid-state electrolytes and practical batteries.     

Surface defect-rich ceria quantum dots anchored on sulfur-doped carbon nitride nanotubes with enhanced charge separation for solar hydrogen production

Designing defect-engineered semiconductor heterojunctions can effectively promote the charge carrier separation.Herein,novel ceria(CeO2) quantum dots(QDs) decorated sulfur-doped carbon nitride nanotubes(SCN NTs) were synthesized via a thermal polycondensation coupled in situ depositionprecipitation method without use of template or surfactant.The structure and morphology studies indicate that ultrafine CeO2 QDs are well distributed inside and outside of SCN NTs offering highly dispersed active sites and a large contact interface between two components.This leads to the promoted formation of rich Ce³⁺ ion and oxygen vacancies as confirmed by XPS.The photocatalytic performance can be facilely modulated by the content of CeO2 QDs introduced in SCN matrix while bare CeO2 does not show activity of hydrogen production.The optimal catalyst with 10% of CeO2 loading yields a hydrogen evolution rate of 2923.8 μmol h-1 g-1 under visible light,remarkably higher than that of bare SCN and their physical mixtures.Further studies reveal that the abundant surface defects and the created 0 D/1 D junctions play a critical role in improving the separation and transfer of charge carriers,leading to superior solar hydrogen production and good stability.     

Superfast and solvent-free core-shell assembly of sulfur/carbon active particles by hail-inspired nanostorm technology for high-energy-density Li-S batteries

The demand on low-carbon emission fabrication technologies for energy storage materials is increasing dramatically with the global interest on carbon neutrality.As a promising active material for metal-sulfur batteries,sulfur is of great interest due to its high-energy-density and abundance.However,there is a lack of industry-friendly and low-carbon fabrication strategies for high-performance sulfur-based active particles,which,however,is in critical need by their practical success.Herein,based on a hail-inspired sulfur nano-storm(HSN)technology developed in our lab,we report an energy-saving,solvent-free strategy for producing core-shell sulfur/carbon electrode particles(CNT@AC-S)in minutes.The fabrication of the CNT@AC-S electrode particles only involves low-cost sulfur blocks,commercial carbon nanotubes(CNT)and activated carbon(AC)micro-particles with high specific surface area.Based on the above core-shell CNT@AC-S particles,sulfur cathode with a high sulfur-loading of 9.2 mg cm^-2 delivers a stable area capacity of 6.6 mAh cm^-2 over 100 cycles.Furthermore,even for sulfur cathode with a super-high sulfur content(72 wt%over the whole electrode),it still delivers a high area capacity of 9 mAh cm^-2 over50 cycles in a quasi-lean electrolyte condition.In a nutshell,this study brings a green and industryfriendly fabrication strategy for cost-effective production of rationally designed S-rich electrode particles.     

Unraveling the stabilization mechanism of solid electrolyte interface on ZnSe by rGO in sodium ion battery

Transition metal selenides have been widely studied as anode materials of sodium ion batteries(SIBs),however,the investigation of solid-electrolyte-interface(SEI)on these materials,which is critical to the electrochemical performance of SIBs,remains at its infancy.Here in this paper,ZnSe@C nanoparticles were prepared from ZIF-8 and the SEI layers on these electrodes with and without reduced graphene oxide(rGO)layers were examined in details by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopies at varied charged/discharged states.It is observed that fast and complicated electrolyte decomposition reactions on ZnSe@C leads to quite thick SEI film and intercalation of solvated sodium ions through such thick SEI film results in slow ion diffusion kinetics and unstable electrode structure.However,the presence of rGO could efficiently suppress the decomposition of electrolyte,thus thin and stable SEI film was formed.ZnSe@C electrodes wrapped by rGO demonstrates enhanced interfacial charge transfer kinetics and high electrochemical performance,a capacity retention of 96.4%,after 1000 cycles at 5 A/g.This study might offer a simple avenue for the designing high performance anode materials through manipulation of SEI film.     

常温常湿条件下Au/MeO~x催化剂上CO氧化性能

利用共沉淀法制备了Au/MeO~x催化剂(Me=Al,Co,Cr,Cu,Fe,Mn,Ni,Zn)。在常温常湿条件下,考察了不同氧化物负载的金基催化剂的CO氧化性能。结果表明,氧化物种类对催化剂的活性和稳定性均有较大的影响。Cu,Mn,Cr等氧化物负载的金基催化剂的活性较差,而Zn,Fe,Co,Ni,Al等金属氧化物负载的金基催化剂可将CO完全氧化,又具有一定的稳定性,在相同反应条件下,CO完全转化时的稳定性顺序为Au/ZnO>Au/α-Fe~2O~3>Au/Co~3O~4>Au/γ-Al~2O~3≈Au/NiO。还发现水对Au/MnO~x催化剂的活性和稳定性有负作用,而对180℃焙烧制备的Au/ZnO-180催化剂的活性和稳定性均有明显的湿度增强作用。     

CXN天然沸石的研究2: 吸附性质

采用N~2,NH~3,CO~2,乙烯,丙烯,水,甲醇,乙醇,丙醇等作为吸附剂,研究了由我国CXN天然沸石改性制得的H-STI和Na-STI沸石的吸附性质,H-STI和Na-STI沸石的BET表面积及微孔孔体积约为420m^2/g和0.20m^3/g。根据NH~3和CO~2在H-STI沸石上的吸附等温线计算得到它们的吸附热分别为44.8和26.5kJ/mol。乙烯,丙烯,甲醇,乙醇,丙醇等在Na-STI沸石上的吸附等温线表明该沸石对有机分子的吸附具有链长选择性。在低分压下水相对于甲醇的吸附量表明沸石具有一定的疏水性质。     

Regulation of carbon distribution to construct high-sulfur-content cathode in lithium-sulfur batteries

Lithium-sulfur(Li-S)battery is regarded as one of the most promising next-generation energy storage systems due to the ultra-high theoretical energy density of 2600 Wh kg^-1.To address the insulation nature of sulfur,nanocarbon composition is essential to afford acceptable cycling capacity but inevitably sacrifices the actual energy density under working conditions.Therefore,rational structural design of the carbon/sulfur composite cathode is of great significance to realize satisfactory electrochemical performances with limited carbon content.Herein,the cathode carbon distribution is rationally regulated to construct high-sulfur-content and high-performance Li-S batteries.Concretely,a double-layer carbon(DLC)cathode is prepared by fabricating a surface carbon layer on the carbon/sulfur composite.The surface carbon layer not only provides more electrochemically active surfaces,but also blocks the polysulfide shuttle.Consequently,the DLC configuration with an increased sulfur content by nearly 10 wt%renders an initial areal capacity of 3.40 mAh cm^-2 and capacity retention of 83.8%during 50 cycles,which is about two times than that of the low-sulfur-content cathode.The strategy of carbon distribution regulation affords an effective pathway to construct advanced high-sulfur-content cathodes for practical high-energy-density Li-S batteries.     

Boost oxygen reduction reaction performance by tuning the active sites in Fe-N-P-C catalysts

Cost-effective atomically dispersed Fe-N-P-C complex catalysts are promising to catalyze the oxygen reduction reaction(ORR)and replace Pt catalysts in fuel cells and metal-air batteries.However,it remains a challenge to increase the number of atomically dispersed active sites on these catalysts.Here we report a highly efficient impregnation-pyrolysis method to prepare effective ORR electrocatalysts with large amount of atomically dispersed Fe active sites from biomass.Two types of active catalyst centers were identified,namely atomically dispersed Fe sites and Fe_xP particles.The ORR rate of the atomically dispersed Fe sites is three orders of magnitude higher than it of Fe_xP particles.A linear correlation between the amount of the atomically dispersed Fe and the ORR activity was obtained,revealing the major contribution of the atomically dispersed Fe to the ORR activity.The number of atomically dispersed Fe increases as the Fe loading increased and reaching the maximum at 1.86 wt%Fe,resulting in the maximum ORR rate.Optimized Fe-N-P-C complex catalyst was used as the cathode catalyst in a homemade Zn-air battery and good performance of an energy density of 771 Wh kgZn^-1,a power density of 92.9 m W cm^-2 at 137 m A cm^-2 and an excellent durability were exhibited.     

Confined Ni-In intermetallic alloy nanocatalyst with excellent coking resistance for methane dry reforming

Carbon dioxide and methane are two main greenhouse gases which are contributed to serious global warming.Fortunately,dry reforming of methane(DRM),a very important reaction developed decades ago,can convert these two major greenhouse gases into value-added syngas or hydrogen.The main problem retarding its industrialization is the seriously coking formation upon the nickel-based catalysts.Herein,a series of confined indium-nickel(In-Ni)intermetallic alloy nanocatalysts(In_xNi@SiO₂)have been prepared and displayed superior coking resistance for DRM reaction.The sample containing 0.5 wt.%of In loading(In_0.5Ni@SiO₂)shows the best balance of carbon deposition resistance and DRM reactivity even after 430 h long term stability test.The boosted carbon resistance can be ascribed to the confinement of core–shell structure and to the transfer of electrons from Indium to Nickel in In-Ni intermetallic alloys due to the smaller electronegativity of In.Both the silica shell and the increase of electron cloud density on metallic Ni can weaken the ability of Ni to activate C–H bond and decrease the deep cracking process of methane.The reaction over the confined InNi intermetallic alloy nanocatalyst was conformed to the Langmuir-Hinshelwood(L-H)mechanism revealed by in situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy(in-situ DRIFTS).This work provides a guidance to design high performance coking resistance catalysts for methane dry reforming to efficiently utilize these two main greenhouse gases.     

Ni5P4/g-C3N4复合光催化剂的制备及光催化性能

使用尿素、 红磷和氯化镍为原料, 通过一种简单的焙烧方法合成了Ni₅P₄/g-C₃N₄光催化剂. 该催化剂形成的异质结可以降低界面电阻, 有效抑制光生电子-空穴对复合率. 以罗丹明B模拟污染物进行降解测试, 发现3NPC的反应速率常数最高, 几乎是g-C₃N₄的7倍, 并具有最高的光催化产氢能力, 制氢速率高达1013.88 μmol·g^-1·h^-1, 明显高于g-C₃N₄(664.38 μmol·g^-1·h^-1).     

Enhanced Visible-light Photocatalytic Activity of g-C3N4/Nitrogen-doped Graphene Quantum Dots/TiO2 Ternary Heterojunctions for Ciprofloxacin Degradation with Narrow Band Gap and High Charge Carrier Mobility

Limited visible-light absorption and high recombination rate of photogenerated charges are two main drawbacks in g-C₃N₄-based photocatalysts. To solve these problems, g-C₃N₄/nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dots (NGQDs)/TiO₂ ternary heterojunctions were facilely prepared via a one-step calcining method. The morphology, structure, optical and electrochemical properties of g-C₃N₄/NGQDs/TiO₂ were characterized and explored. The optimal g-C₃N₄/NGQDs/TiO₂ composite exhibits enhanced photocatalytic degradation performance of ciprofloxacin (CIP) compared with the as-prepared g-C₃N₄, TiO₂(P25) and g-C₃N₄/TiO₂ heterojunction under visible light irradiation. The apparent rate constant of the composite is around 6.43, 4.03 and 2.30 times higher than those of g-C₃N₄, TiO₂ and g-C₃N₄/TiO₂, respectively. The enhanced photocatalytic efficiency should be mainly attributed to the improvement of light absorption and charge separation and transfer efficiency, originating from the narrow band gap and high charge carrier mobility. The active species trapping experiments results showed that the h⁺ and ^·O₂^- were the main active species in the degradation process. A possible photocatalytic reaction mechanism of the g-C₃N₄/NGQDs/TiO₂ composite for the enhanced degradation of CIP under visible light irradiation was also proposed.     

氨氛围热处理g-C_3N_4控制N空位浓度提高光催化制氢性能

热处理氧化石墨相氮化碳(g-C_3N_4)材料产生氮缺陷、提升其光催化制氢性能的研究备受关注,但其N空位浓度高且不可控、一定程度破坏g-C_3N_4晶体结构,降低g-C_3N_4的结晶度,导致光生电子-空穴对复合率高,致使其光催化制氢效率较低。基于上述问题,本研究以二氰二胺为前驱体制备了g-C_3N_4,与不同含量的尿素混合,在空气中加热快速热处理,通过X-射线衍射仪(XRD)、扫描电子显微镜(SEM)等测试手段,对其物相组成、微观形貌、光学吸收等进行了表征,在可见光条件下对样品进行了光催化制氢性能测试,研究了尿素的加入对热处理后g-C_3N_4材料的N空位浓度、结晶度及光催化制氢性能的影响。研究表明,尿素的加入降低了N空位的浓度,且提升了其结晶度。在优化的尿素添加量下,g-C_3N_4的可见光光催化制氢速率为6.5μmol·h-1,是没有添加尿素处理的样品的3倍。该研究结果表明,利用尿素原位分解产生的NH_3,可以抑制g-C_3N_4热处理过程中氮原子的氧化程度、实现调控N空位浓度,同时提高了结晶度,最终提升了其光催化制氢性能。     

Ni,Co基硒化物修饰g-C3N4光催化产氢研究

Developing novel and efficient catalysts is a significant way to break the bottleneck of low separation and transfer efficiency of charge carriers in pristine photocatalysts. Here, two fresh photocatalysts, g-C₃N₄@Ni₃Se₄ and g-C₃N₄@CoSe₂ hybrids, are first synthesized by anchoring Ni₃Se₄ and CoSe₂ nanoparticles on the surface of well-dispersed g-C₃N₄ nanosheets. The resulting materials show excellent performance for photocatalytic in situ hydrogen generation. Pristine g-C₃N₄ has poor photocatalytic hydrogen evolution activity (about 1.9 μmol·h^-1) because of the rapid recombination of electron-hole pairs. However, the hydrogen generation activity is well improved after growing Ni₃Se₄ and CoSe₂ on the surface of g-C₃N₄, owing to the unique effect of these selenides in accelerating the separation and migration of charge carriers. The hydrogen production activities of G-C₃N₄@Ni₃Se₄ and g-C₃N₄@CoSe₂ are about 16.4 μmol·h^-1 and 25.6 μmol·h^-1, which are 8-fold and 13-fold that of pristine g-C₃N₄, respectively. In detail, coupling Ni₃Se₄ and CoSe₂ with g-C₃N₄ greatly improves the light absorbance density and extends the light response region. The photoluminescence intensity of the photoexcited Eosin Y dye in the presence of g-C₃N₄@Ni₃Se₄ and g-C₃N₄@CoSe₂ is weaker than that in the presence of pure g-C₃N₄. On the other hand, the upper limit of the electron-transfer rate constants in the presence of g-C₃N₄@Ni₃Se₄ and g-C₃N₄@CoSe₂ is greater than that in the presence of pure g-C₃N₄. Among the g-C₃N₄@Ni₃Se₄@FTO, g-C₃N₄@CoSe₂@FTO, and g-C₃N₄@FTO electrodes, the g-C₃N₄@FTO electrode has the lowest photocurrent density and the highest electrochemical impedance, implying that the introduction of CoSe₂ and Ni₃Se₄ onto the surface of g-C₃N₄ enhances the separation and transfer efficiency of photogenerated charge carriers. In other words, the formation of two star metals selenide based on g-C₃N₄ can efficiently inhibit the recombination of photogenerated charge carriers and accelerate photocatalytic water splitting to generate H₂. Meanwhile, the right shift of the absorption band edge effectively reduces the transition threshold of the photoexcited electrons from the valence band to the conduction band. In addition, the more negative zeta potential for the g-C₃N₄@Ni₃Se₄ and g-C₃N₄@CoSe₂ catalysts as compared with that for pure g-C₃N₄ leads to a notable enhancement in the adsorption of protons by the sample surface. Moreover, the results of density functional theory calculations indicate that the hydrogen adsorption energy of the N sites in g-C₃N₄ is -0.22 eV; further, the hydrogen atoms are preferentially adsorbed at the bridge site of two selenium atoms to form a Se―H―Se bond, and the adsorption energy is 1.53 eV. In-depth characterization has been carried out by transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, transient photocurrent measurements, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy; the results of these experiments are in good agreement with one another.     

理论计算研究二维/二维BP/g-C3N4异质结的光催化CO2还原性能

Photocatalytic reduction of CO₂ to hydrocarbon compounds is a promising method for addressing energy shortages and environmental pollution. Considerable efforts have been devoted to exploring valid strategies to enhance photocatalytic efficiency. Among various modification methods, the hybridization of different photocatalysts is effective for addressing the shortcomings of a single photocatalyst and enhancing its CO₂ reduction performance. In addition, metal-free materials such as g-C₃N₄ and black phosphorus (BP) are attractive because of their unique structures and electronic properties. Many experimental results have verified the superior photocatalytic activity of a BP/g-C₃N₄ composite. However, theoretical understanding of the intrinsic mechanism of the activity enhancement is still lacking. Herein, the geometric structures, optical absorption, electronic properties, and CO₂ reduction reaction processes of 2D/2D BP/g-C₃N₄ composite models are investigated using density functional theory calculations. The composite model consists of a monolayer of BP and a tri-s-triazine-based monolayer of g-C₃N₄. Based on the calculated work function, it is inferred that electrons transfer from g-C₃N₄ to BP owing to the higher Fermi level of g-C₃N₄ compared with that of BP. Furthermore, the charge density difference suggests the formation of a built-in electric field at the interface, which is conducive to the separation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. The optical absorption coefficient demonstrates that the light absorption of the composite is significantly higher than that of its single-component counterpart. Integrated analysis of the band edge potential and interfacial electronic interaction indicates that the migration of photogenerated charge carriers in the BP/g-C₃N₄ hybrid follows the S-scheme photocatalytic mechanism. Under visible-light irradiation, the photogenerated electrons on BP recombine with the photogenerated holes on g-C₃N₄, leaving photogenerated electrons and holes in the conduction band of g-C₃N₄ and the valence band of BP, respectively. Compared with pristine g-C₃N₄, this S-scheme heterojunction allows efficient separation of photogenerated charge carriers while effectively preserving strong redox abilities. Additionally, the possible reaction path for CO₂ reduction on g-C₃N₄ and BP/g-C₃N₄ is discussed by computing the free energy of each step. It was found that CO₂ reduction on the composite occurs most readily on the g-C₃N₄ side. The reaction path on the composite is different from that on g-C₃N₄. The heterojunction reduces the maximum energy barrier for CO₂ reduction from 1.48 to 1.22 eV, following the optimal reaction path. Consequently, the BP/g-C₃N₄ heterojunction is theoretically proven to be an excellent CO₂ reduction photocatalyst. This work is helpful for understanding the effect of BP modification on the photocatalytic activity of g-C₃N₄. It also provides a theoretical basis for the design of other high-performance CO₂ reduction photocatalysts.      

反蛋白石结构的g-C3N4可控合成及其优异的光催化产氢性能

The growing frustration from facing energy shortages and unbalanced environmental issues has obstructed the long-term development of human society. Semiconductor-based photocatalysis, such as water splitting, transfers solar energy to storable chemical energy and is widely considered an economic and clean solution. Although regarded as a promising photocatalyst, the low specific surface area of g-C₃N₄ crucially restrains its photocatalytic performance. The macro-mesoporous architecture provides effective channels for mass transfer and full-light utilization and improved the efficiency of the photocatalytic reaction. Herein, g-C₃N₄ with an inverse opal (IO) structure was rationally fabricated using a well-packed SiO₂ template, which displayed an ultrahigh surface area (450.2 m²·g^-1) and exhibited a higher photocatalytic H₂ evolution rate (21.22 μmol·h^-1), almost six times higher than that of bulk g-C₃N₄ (3.65 μmol·h^-1). The IO g-C₃N₄ demonstrates better light absorption capacity than bulk g-C₃N₄, primarily in the visible spectra range, owing to the multiple light scattering effect of the three-dimensional (3D) porous structure. Meanwhile, a lower PL intensity, longer emission lifetime, smaller Nyquist semicircle, and stronger photocurrent response (which synergistically give rise to the suppressed recombination of charge carriers) decrease the interfacial charge transfer resistance and boost the formation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. Moreover, the existing N vacancies intensify the local electron density, helping increase the number of photoexcitons. The N₂ adsorption-desorption test revealed the existence of ample mesopores and macropores and high specific surface area in IO g-C₃N₄, which exposes more active edges and catalytic sites. Optical behavior, electron paramagnetic resonance, and electrochemical characterization results revealed positive factors, including enhanced light utilization, improved photogenerated charge separation, prolonged lifetime, and fortified IO g-C₃N₄ with excellent photocatalytic performance. This work provides an important contribution to the structural design and property modulation of photocatalysts.      

g-C_3N_4/BiOBr异质结光催化剂的制备与可见光催化活性

以三聚氰胺作为合成g-C_3N_4纳米片的前躯体,以Bi(NO3)3·5H2O和KBr作为合成BiOBr的原料,采用水热法构建g-C_3N_4/Bi OBr二维异质结可见光催化剂,有效的晶面复合和合适的能带组合有助于增强g-C_3N_4和BiOBr的可见光催化活性。利用X射线衍射(XRD)、透射电镜(TEM)、X射线光电子能谱(XPS)、光致发光光谱(PL)和紫外-可见漫反射光谱(UVvis DRS)等方法表征其结构、光学性质以及组成结构。在可见光(λ420 nm)下以光催化降解RhB来评价合成催化剂的光催化活性,结果表明,g-C_3N_4/BiOBr光催化降解罗丹明B(Rh B)的效率高于单体g-C_3N_4和BiOBr,并对g-C_3N_4/BiOBr增强可见光催化RhB机理进行解释。     

质子化g-C3N4/β-SiC复合材料的制备及光催化降解茜素红性能

分别采用热解法和溶胶-凝胶-碳热还原法合成了石墨相氮化碳(g-C₃N₄)和纳米级碳化硅(β-SiC), 通过浸渍-热处理法将两者复合并通过浓盐酸质子化, 分别制备了g-C₃N₄/β-SiC和质子化g-C₃N₄/β-SiC(P-g-C₃N₄/β-SiC)复合光催化剂. 利用X射线衍射(XRD)、 扫描电子显微镜(SEM)、 高分辨透射电子显微镜(HRTEM)、 傅里叶变换红外光谱(FTIR)、 X射线光电子能谱(XPS)、 紫外-可见漫反射光谱(UV-Vis-DRS)和光致发光光谱(PL)等对样品进行了表征. 结果表明, P-g-C₃N₄/β-SiC复合材料的比表面积增大, 光生电子-空穴对的复合几率降低, 光催化性能明显提高. 在光催化降解染料茜素红(ARS)研究中, 样品的可见光催化活性顺序为P-g-C₃N₄/β-SiC>g-C₃N₄/β-SiC>P-g-C₃N₄>g-C₃N₄>β-SiC. 其中P-g-C₃N₄/β-SiC在60 min内对ARS的降解效率高达99.9%, 符合准一阶动力学模型, 速率常数为0.0967 min ^-1, 且循环使用9次后, 光催化降解效率仍保持97.5%以上.     

二维/二维FeNi-LDH/g-C3N4复合光催化剂用于促进CO2光还原反应

Photocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide into chemical fuels is a promising route to generate renewable energy and curtail the greenhouse effect. Therefore, various photocatalysts have been intensively studied for this purpose. Among them, g-C₃N₄, a 2D metal-free semiconductor, has been a promising photocatalyst because of its unique properties, such as high chemical stability, suitable electronic structure, and facile preparation. However, pristine g-C₃N₄ suffers from low solar energy conversion efficiency, owing to its small specific surface area and extensive charge recombination. Therefore, designing g-C₃N₄ (CN) nanosheets with a large specific surface area is an effective strategy for enhancing the CO₂ reduction performance. Unfortunately, the performance of CN nanosheets remains moderate due to the aforementioned charge recombination. To counter this issue, loading a cocatalyst (especially a two-dimensional (2D) one) can enable effective electron migration and suppress electron-hole recombination during photo-irradiation. Herein, CN nanosheets with a large specific surface area (97 m²·g^-1) were synthesized by a two-step calcination method, using urea as the precursor. Following this, a 2D/2D FeNi-LDH/g-C₃N₄ hybrid photocatalyst was obtained by loading a FeNi layered double hydroxide (FeNi-LDH) cocatalyst onto CN nanosheets by a simple hydrothermal method. It was found that the production rate of methanol from photocatalytic CO₂ reduction over the FeNi-LDH/g-C₃N₄ composite is significantly higher than that of pristine CN. Following a series of characterization and analysis, it was demonstrated that the FeNi-LDH/g-C₃N₄ composite photocatalyst exhibited enhanced photo-absorption, which was ascribed to the excellent light absorption ability of FeNi-LDH. The CO₂ adsorption capacity of the FeNi-LDH/g-C₃N₄ hybrid photocatalyst improved, owing to the large specific surface area and alkaline nature of FeNi-LDH. More importantly, the introduction of FeNi-LDH on the CN nanosheet surface led to the formation of a 2D/2D heterojunction with a large contact area at the interface, which could promote the interfacial separation of charge carriers and effectively inhibit the recombination of the photogenerated electrons and holes. This subsequently resulted in the enhancement of the CO₂ photo-reduction activity. In addition, by altering the loading amount of FeNi-LDH for photocatalytic performance evaluation, it was found that the optimal loading amount was 4% (w, mass fraction), with a methanol production rate of 1.64 μmol·h^-1·g^-1 (approximately 6 times that of pure CN). This study provides an effective strategy to improve the photocatalytic CO₂ reduction activity of g-C₃N₄ by employing 2D layered double hydroxide as the cocatalyst. It also proposes a protocol for the successful design of 2D/2D photocatalysts for solar energy conversion.      

Fe掺杂g-C_3N_4的制备及其可见光催化性能

以硝酸铁和三聚氰胺为原料制备不同含铁量的Fe掺杂石墨氮化碳(g-C3N4).采用X射线衍射光谱(XRD)、紫外-可见(UV-Vis)光谱、傅里叶变换红外(FT-IR)光谱、电感耦合等离子体-原子发射光谱(ICP-AES)、荧光(PL)光谱、X光电子能谱(XPS)等分析手段对制备的催化剂进行了表征.结果表明,铁以离子形式镶嵌在gC3N4的结构单元中,影响了g-C3N4的能带结构,增加了g-C3N4对可见光的吸收,降低了光生电子-空穴对的复合几率.以染料罗丹明B的降解为探针反应系统研究了不同含铁量对g-C3N4在可见光下催化性能的影响.结果表明,m(Fe)/m(g-C3N4)=0.14%时,制备的Fe掺杂g-C3N4表现出最佳的光催化性能,120 min内罗丹明B的降解率高达99.7%,速率常数达到0.026 min-1,是纯g-C3N4的3.2倍.以叔丁醇、对苯醌、乙二胺四乙酸二钠为自由基(·OH)、自由基(O2-·)和空穴(h+VB)的捕获剂,研究了光催化反应机理.