Selectivity, stability and reproducibility effect of Uric acid integrated carbon nitride for photocatalytic application

An ideal solution to water or pollutant contamination and energy problem is to advance photocatalysts that are highly effective for both reducing contaminants and cleaning water. In this regard, carbon nitride (CN) has strong stability with prominent band structure and can be used to produce hydrogen through water splitting due to an easier fabrication process. Uric acid (UA) was integrated as a conjugated monomer in the urea based CN system using the molecular doping (copolymerization) process. The photocatalysis of water reduction (HER) by using a new growth technique of minimally priced effective monomer UA inside CN, which also optimized the photodegradation of Rhodamine B dye (RhB) under light illumination (lambda = 420 nm). By increasing light transmittance, speeding up photogenerated electrons and holes, and changing the physicochemical properties of CN, modified samples dramatically improve photocatalytic efficiency. The ideal samples CNU-UA10.0 showed a substantial increase in photocatalytic activity, with an HER 690.01 mu mol/h higher than CNU (82.89 mu mol/h), based on the implications of different configurations on the reaction mechanism. Moreover, an extraordinary apparent quantum yield (AQY) of about 57.43% at 420 nm has been observed for CNU-UA10.0. Under the same conditions and illuminations, H2 performance versus RhB dye degradation was compared. CNU-UA, on the other hand, had a three-fold higher pseudo-order kinetic constant for photodegradation of RhB than CN. The results demonstrate a major step toward in the direction of custom-designed photocatalysts with efficient water reduction and pollutants degradation capability for future demand.

Automated summary

By incorporating uric acid as a monomer into the carbon nitride system using molecular doping, the photocatalytic efficiency for water reduction and dye degradation was significantly improved.