title: Biopolymer-activated graphitic carbon nitride towards a sustainable photocathode material.
abstract: Photoelectrochemical (PEC) conversion of solar light into chemical fuels is one of the most promising solutions to the challenge of sustainable energy. Graphitic carbon (IV) nitride polymer (g-CN) is an interesting sustainable photocathode material due to low-cost, visible-light sensitivity, and chemical stability up to 500 °C in air. However, grain boundary effects and limited active sites greatly hamper g-CN activity. Here, we demonstrate biopolymer-activation of g-CN through simultaneous soft-templating of a sponge-like structure and incorporation of active carbon-dopant sites. This facile approach results in an almost 300% increase in the cathodic PEC activity of g-CN under simulated solar-irradiation.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 211189, China. Yuanjian.Zhang@seu.edu.cn
authors.forename: Yuanjian
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Zoë
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Schnepp
authors.forename: Junyu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Shuxin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ouyang
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Jinhua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.forename: Songqin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D001704:Biopolymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D004566:Electrodes; D006108:Graphite; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D009570:Nitriles / Q000737:chemistry*; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction
chemical_list: D001704:Biopolymers; D009570:Nitriles; C011206:cyanogen; D006108:Graphite