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A Novel Dual-Channel Carbon Nitride Homojunction with Nanofibrous Carbon for Significantly Boosting Photocatalytic Hydrogen Peroxide Production

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Abstract

Photocatalytic H2O2 synthesis (PHS) via graphite carbon nitride (g-C3N4) is a low-carbon and environmentally friendly approach, which has garnered tremendous attention. However, as for the pristine g-C3N4, the PHS is severely constrained by the slow transfer and rapid recombination of photogenerated carriers. Herein, we introduced cellulose-derived carbon nanofibers (CF) into the homojunction of g-C3N4 nanotubes (MCN) and g-C3N4 nanosheets (SCN). A series of photocatalytic results demonstrate that the embedding of cellulose-derived carbon for MCN/SCN/CF composite catalyst significantly improved the photocatalytic H2O2 generation (136.9 μmol·L−1·h−1) with 5-holds higher than that of individual MCN (27.5 μmol·L−1·h−1) without any sacrificial agent. This enhancement can be attributed to the combined effects of the two-step one-electron oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) on conduction band (CB) side and the water oxidation reaction (WOR) on valence band (VB) side. A comprehensive characterization of the mechanism indicates that CF enhances the absorption of light, promotes the separation and migration of photogenerated carriers, and regulates the position of the valence and conduction bands with an effective dual-channel ORR pathway for photo-synthesis of H2O2. This work provides valuable insights into utilizing biomass-based materials for significantly boosting photocatalytic H2O2 production.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Fujian (2022J01144), State Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper Engineering (202218), Natural Science Foundation of Shandong (ZR2021MC035), Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program for College Students (X202310389326), and State Key Laboratory of New Textile Materials and Advanced Processing Technologies (FZ2022009).

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  1. Jianwen Zhou and Tianshang Shan contributed equally.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Material Engineering, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, 350108, Fujian, China

    Jianwen Zhou, Tianshang Shan, Liulian Huang, Guangfu Liao, He Xiao & Lihui Chen

  2. State Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510640, Guangdong, China

    He Xiao

  3. Laboratory for Comprehensive Utilization of Paper Waste of Shandong Province, Shandong Huatai Paper Co. Ltd., Dongying, 257335, China

    Fengshan Zhang & He Xiao

  4. ICGM, University of Montpellier, CNRS, ENSCM, 34000, Montpellier, France

    Bruno Boury

  5. State Key Laboratory of New Textile Materials and Advanced Processing Technologies, Wuhan Textile University, Wuhan, 430200, China

    Yingkui Yang

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  1. Jianwen Zhou
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Correspondence to Bruno Boury, Yingkui Yang, Guangfu Liao or He Xiao.

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Guangfu Liao is an editorial board member for Advanced Fiber Materials and was not involved in the editorial review or the decision to publish this article. All authors declare that there are no competing interests.

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Zhou, J., Shan, T., Zhang, F. et al. A Novel Dual-Channel Carbon Nitride Homojunction with Nanofibrous Carbon for Significantly Boosting Photocatalytic Hydrogen Peroxide Production. Adv. Fiber Mater. 6, 387–400 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42765-023-00354-9

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