Work

In situ characterization revealing the accelerated hot carrier kinetics for high-performance photocatalysis

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: The insights into the structure-performance relationship and reaction mechanism of photocatalysts, particularly in realistic reaction condition, plays the key role in understanding the origin of high performance for key energy conversion reaction in photocatalysis. Hot charge carriers with high kinetic energy generated by high energy photon usually participate in the redox reactions more efficiently than charge carriers relaxed at the band edge of photocatalyst. Thus, it is of great significance to monitor/regulate the kinetics and lifetime of hot carriers in photocatalysts. Here, we report the novel protonation route to regulate the surface properties of C 3 N 5 nanosheet for optimizing the hot carrier kinetic/lifetime and achieve high-performance photocatalytic evolution of H 2 O 2 (11.04mmol g -1 h −1 ) and benzaldehyde (25.71mmol g -1 h −1 ), simultaneously. Six types of in situ characterizations reveal that protonation can help extend the lifetime of hot electron/hole, respectively. Thus, more H 2 O 2 can be generated while much more O 2 -originated active species, e.g., ∙O 2 – and ·OH, can be generated to efficiently oxidize the benzyl alcohol to generate benzaldehyde. Our research exhibits the great significance of using in situ characterization to reveal the insightful reaction mechanism in realistic conditions in photocatalysis area.

Source: Chemical Engineering Journal

DOI: 10.1016/j.cej.2025.163635