The development of an efficient, eco-friendly, practical, and selective way to decompose formic acid (FA) into H2 and CO2 is crucial for the utilization of FA as a chemical hydrogen storage material in hydrogen economy. In this regard, photocatalytic FA dehydrogenation attracts great attention owing to its potential to meet the above-mentioned requirements. Interestingly, there is no example of heterojunction photocatalyst that tunes the hole potential of the semiconductor, resulted in a better photocatalytic activity. We report herein for the first time the design and fabrication of a novel Z-scheme heterojunction photocatalyst for FA dehydrogenation, denoted as g-CN/Ag/Ag3PO4-AgPd comprising graphitic carbon nitride (g-CN) and Ag3PO4 semiconductors, Ag and AgPd alloy nanoparticles (NPs)....
Suzuki–Miyaura coupling (SMC) reactions are one of the most promising routes for carbon–carbon bond formation. It is believed that metal complexes, particularly palladium complexes, are the most effective catalysts for this purpose. However, the catalysis nature whether it is homogenous or heterogeneous is under debate. It is commonly believed that a homogenous catalysis pathway is responsible for the catalytic activity when the phosphine ligands are present in the structure due to the strong phosphorus-metal interactions. In this study, Pd (II) complexes of phosphino-benzaldoxime ligands were synthesized, characterized, and tested in SMC reactions. Interestingly, it was found that the catalytic activity increased by 11 times when the amount of catalyst was reduced by 10-fold and increased...
Photocatalytic formic acid dehydrogenation (FAD) has been regarded as one of the most promising methods of producing H2 in a sustainable manner. In the photocatalytic FAD reaction, photogenerated holes play an important role in the reaction mechanism and thus in the efficiency of photocatalysts. However, the design of photocatalytic systems capable of generating high hole potential without compromising the reducing ability of the photocatalyst is extremely rare for the FAD reaction. In this respect, we report herein a novel and highly efficient heterojunction photocatalyst composed of 2D graphitic carbon nitride, 2D MnO2, 1D MnOOH, and 0D PdAg alloy nanoparticles, denoted as GCN/MnO2/MnOOH-PdAg, that can create high reduction and oxidation potentials via a dual S-scheme heterojunction. The...
Graphitic carbon nitride (g-CN) has gained wide interest in many areas, such as energy and the environmental remediation as a layered polymeric semiconductor that allows the formation of catalytically active Schottky junctions due to its proper electronic band structure. Interestingly, although it is known that the precursors used in the synthesis, can influence the properties of the g-CN, no detailed study on these effects on Schottky junctions could be found in the literature. In this research, the effects of g-CNs synthesized by thermal polycondensation of different precursors on the photocatalytic efficiency of Schottky junctions were investigated. For this purpose, urea, thiourea, melamine, and guanidine hydrochloride were used as different precursors, while the photocatalytic dehydro...