title: Photocatalytic CO2 reduction over B4C/C3N4 with internal electric field under visible light irradiation.
abstract: Boron carbide/graphitic carbon nitride (B4C/g-C3N4) p-n hetero-junction photocatalyst with an internal electric field was synthesized by a facile solvent evaporation method and characterized by field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectra (UV-Vis DRS), photoluminescence spectra (PL), etc. Photocatalytic activity of the composite B4C/g-C3N4 loaded with Pt co-catalyst was evaluated using CO2 conversion to CH4 with H2 as the hydrogen source and reductant under visible light irradiation. The coupling of p-type B4C with n-type g-C3N4 significantly improved the performance of photocatalytic CO2 reduction; with the optimum B4C mass fraction of 1/6, the composite photocatalyst showed approximately 6 and 8 times higher CH4 generation rate than g-C3N4 and B4C, respectively. The enhancement was attributed to efficient photo-excited electron/hole separation due to the formation of internal electric field at the p-B4C/n-C3N4 interface.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering and Catalysis for Renewable Fuels (CReF) Center, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, United States; Department of Metallurgical and Chemical Engineering, Jiyuan Vocational and Technical College, Jiyuan 459000, PR China.
authors.forename: Xiaojie
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering and Catalysis for Renewable Fuels (CReF) Center, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, United States.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: College of Chemical & Environment Science, Shanxi University of Technology, Hanzhong 723001, PR China.
authors.forename: Quanchao
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Du
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering and Catalysis for Renewable Fuels (CReF) Center, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, United States.
authors.forename: Zhiyong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering and Catalysis for Renewable Fuels (CReF) Center, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, United States.
authors.forename: Shuguo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering and Catalysis for Renewable Fuels (CReF) Center, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, United States. Electronic address: yumiao@cec.sc.edu.
authors.forename: Miao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yu
keywords: B(4)C; CO(2) reduction; Visible light; g-C(3)N(4); p–n heterojunction