Type-II/type-II band alignment to boost spatial charge separation: a case study of g-C3 N4 quantum dots/a-TiO2 /r-TiO2 for highly efficient photocatalytic hydrogen and oxygen evolution

Nanoscale
Bing-Xin ZhouGui-Fang Huang

Abstract

Efficient spatial charge separation and transfer that are critical factors for solar energy conversion primarily depend on the energetic alignment of the band edges at interfaces in heterojunctions. Herein, we first report that constructing a 0D/0D type-II(T-II)/T-II heterojunction is an effective strategy to ingeniously achieve long-range charge separation by taking a ternary heterojunction of TiO2 and graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) as a proof-of-concept. Incorporating g-C3N4 quantum dots (QCN), as the third component, into the commercial P25 composed of anatase (a-TiO2) and rutile (r-TiO2) can be realized via simply mixing the commercially available Degussa P25 and QCN solution followed by heat treatment. The strong coupling and matching band structures among a-TiO2, r-TiO2 and QCN result in the construction of novel T-II/T-II heterojunctions, which would promote the spatial separation and transfer of photogenerated electrons and holes. Moreover, QCN plays a key role in reinforcing light absorption. Particularly, the unique 0D/0D architecture possesses the advantages of abundant active sites for the photocatalytic reaction. As a result, the optimized QCN/a-TiO2/r-TiO2 heterojunctions exhibit enhanced photocatalytic H2 and ...Continue Reading

References

Nov 14, 2008·Angewandte Chemie·Dariusz Mitoraj, Horst Kisch
Jul 9, 2013·Nature Materials·David O ScanlonAlexey A Sokol
Jun 4, 2014·Advanced Materials·Peng ZhouMietek Jaroniec
Jan 23, 2016·Angewandte Chemie·Zhiping SongLiangqia Guo
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Aug 28, 2019·Nanoscale·Michelle MuzzioShouheng Sun

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Citations

Oct 2, 2020·Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics : PCCP·Ruishan TanShuhua Shi
Jan 14, 2021·Advanced Science·Sen LinYihe Zhang

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
X-ray
scanning electron microscopy

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