Direct Electrochemical Storage of Solar Energy in C‐Rich Polymeric Carbon Nitride Cell

Solar Energy Harvesting with Carbon Nitrides: Do We Understand the Mechanism?

10.26434/chemrxiv.6843812 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Wolfgang Domcke ◽

Johannes Ehrmaier ◽

Andrzej L. Sobolewski

Keyword(s):

Excited State ◽

Solar Energy ◽

Water Molecule ◽

Hydrogen Evolution ◽

Water Splitting ◽

Hydroxyl Radicals ◽

Carbon Nitride ◽

Carbon Nitrides ◽

Polymeric Carbon ◽

Carbon Nitride Materials

The photocatalytic splitting of water into molecular hydrogen and molecular oxygen with sunlight is the dream reaction for solar energy conversion. Since decades, transition-metal-oxide semiconductors and supramolecular organometallic structures have been extensively explored as photocatalysts for solar water splitting. More recently, polymeric carbon nitride materials consisting of triazine or heptazine building blocks have attracted considerable attention as hydrogen-evolution photocatalysts. The mechanism of hydrogen evolution with polymeric carbon nitrides is discussed throughout the current literature in terms of the familiar concepts developed for photoelectrochemical water splitting with semiconductors since the 1970s. We discuss in this perspective an alternative mechanistic paradigm for photoinduced water splitting with carbon nitrides, which focusses on the specific features of the photochemistry of aromatic N-heterocycles in aqueous environments. It is shown that a water molecule which is hydrogen-bonded to an N-heterocycle can be decomposed into hydrogen and hydroxyl radicals by two simple sequential photochemical reactions. This concept is illustrated by first-principles calculations of excited-state reaction paths and their energy profiles for hydrogen-bonded complexes of pyridine, triazine and heptazine with a water molecule. It is shown that the excited-state hydrogen-transfer and hydrogen-detachment reactions are essentially barrierless, in sharp contrast to water oxidation in the electronic ground state, where high barriers prevail. We also discuss in some detail the products of possible reactions of the highly reactive hydroxyl radicals with the chromophores. We hypothesize that the challenge of efficient solar hydrogen generation with carbon-nitride materials is less the decomposition of water as such, but rather the controlled recombination of the photogenerated radicals to the closed-shell products H2 and H2O2.

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Structure Tuning of Polymeric Carbon Nitride for Solar Energy Conversion: From Nano to Molecular Scale

Chem ◽

10.1016/j.chempr.2019.07.019 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 5 (11) ◽

pp. 2775-2813 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Yang Wang ◽

Soo Zeng Fiona Phua ◽

Gang Dong ◽

Xueqin Liu ◽

Bing He ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Solar Energy ◽

Energy Conversion ◽

Carbon Nitride ◽

Solar Energy Conversion ◽

Molecular Scale ◽

Polymeric Carbon

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Solar Energy Harvesting with Carbon Nitrides: Do We Understand the Mechanism?

10.26434/chemrxiv.6843812.v1 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Wolfgang Domcke ◽

Johannes Ehrmaier ◽

Andrzej L. Sobolewski

Keyword(s):

Excited State ◽

Solar Energy ◽

Water Molecule ◽

Hydrogen Evolution ◽

Water Splitting ◽

Hydroxyl Radicals ◽

Carbon Nitride ◽

Carbon Nitrides ◽

Polymeric Carbon ◽

Carbon Nitride Materials

The photocatalytic splitting of water into molecular hydrogen and molecular oxygen with sunlight is the dream reaction for solar energy conversion. Since decades, transition-metal-oxide semiconductors and supramolecular organometallic structures have been extensively explored as photocatalysts for solar water splitting. More recently, polymeric carbon nitride materials consisting of triazine or heptazine building blocks have attracted considerable attention as hydrogen-evolution photocatalysts. The mechanism of hydrogen evolution with polymeric carbon nitrides is discussed throughout the current literature in terms of the familiar concepts developed for photoelectrochemical water splitting with semiconductors since the 1970s. We discuss in this perspective an alternative mechanistic paradigm for photoinduced water splitting with carbon nitrides, which focusses on the specific features of the photochemistry of aromatic N-heterocycles in aqueous environments. It is shown that a water molecule which is hydrogen-bonded to an N-heterocycle can be decomposed into hydrogen and hydroxyl radicals by two simple sequential photochemical reactions. This concept is illustrated by first-principles calculations of excited-state reaction paths and their energy profiles for hydrogen-bonded complexes of pyridine, triazine and heptazine with a water molecule. It is shown that the excited-state hydrogen-transfer and hydrogen-detachment reactions are essentially barrierless, in sharp contrast to water oxidation in the electronic ground state, where high barriers prevail. We also discuss in some detail the products of possible reactions of the highly reactive hydroxyl radicals with the chromophores. We hypothesize that the challenge of efficient solar hydrogen generation with carbon-nitride materials is less the decomposition of water as such, but rather the controlled recombination of the photogenerated radicals to the closed-shell products H2 and H2O2.

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Dissolution and Performing Homogeneous Photocatalysis of Polymeric Carbon Nitride

10.26434/chemrxiv.6959627 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Chaofeng Huang ◽

Jing Wen ◽

Yanfei Shen ◽

Fei He ◽

Li Mi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Conjugated Polymer ◽

Carbon Nitride ◽

Heterogeneous Catalysts ◽

Methane Sulfonic Acid ◽

Environment Friendly ◽

The Poor ◽

Catalytic Sites ◽

Homogeneous Photocatalysis ◽

Polymeric Carbon ◽

First Time

<a></a><a>As a metal-free conjugated polymer, carbon nitride (CN) has attracted tremendous attention as heterogeneous (photo)catalysts. </a><a></a><a>By following prototype of enzymes, making all catalytic sites of accessible via homogeneous reactions is a promising approach toward maximizing CN activity, but hindered due to </a><a></a><a>the poor insolubility of CN</a>. Herein, we report the dissolution of CN in environment-friendly methane sulfonic acid and the homogeneous photocatalysis driven by CN for the first time with the activity boosted up to 10-times, comparing to the heterogeneous counterparts. Moreover, facile recycling and reusability, the <a>hallmark</a> of heterogeneous catalysts, were kept for the homogeneous CN photocatalyst via reversible precipitation using poor solvents. It opens new vista of CN in homogeneous catalysis and offers a successful example of polymeric catalysts in bridging gaps of homo/heterogeneous catalysis.

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