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1D porous g-C3N4 nanorods were synthesized using chitosan as a template, offering a large surface area and enhanced visible light absorption. These nanorods exhibited a remarkable 8.3-fold increase in H2 generation rate (26.6 μmol h−1) compared to bulk g-C3N4. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectroscopy has attracted increasing attention due to its high spectral reproducibility and unique selectivity to target molecules. Here, a facile approach is proposed to prepare Ag nanoparticles modified ZnO nanorod arrays (Ag/ZnO NR arrays). Ag nanoparticles were densely decorated on the surface of ZnO nanorods through silver mirror reaction and subsequent seed-assisted electrodeposition. The prepared Ag/ZnO NR arrays can be used as a sensitive, uniform, and repeatable SERS substrate for the rapid detection of organic dye molecules and biomolecules with concentrations higher than the corresponding limits of detection (LODs). The LODs for rhodamine 6G (R6G), 4-aminothiophenol (PATP) and adenine are calculated to be 1.0 × 10−13 M, 1.6 × 10−12 M and 3 × 10−11 M, respectively. The enhancement factor (EF) of the SERS substrate is estimated to be as high as ~2.7 × 108 when detecting 10−10 M R6G. Particularly, the as-synthesized substrate exhibits high selectivity to multiple components. In addition, the fabricated Ag/ZnO NR arrays can be recycled due to their superior self-cleaning ability and can realize photocatalytic degradation of R6G in water within 1 h driven by UV light, showing that the three-dimensional recyclable SERS substrates have wide applications in environmental pollution monitoring and biomedical analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surface engineering is of great importance to rationally change the catalyst's surface structure and provide insights into the surface reactivity when developing high-efficiency and earth-abundant catalysts for electrocatalytic water splitting. Herein, nitrogen-doped carbon (NC) nanoparticle-decorated MoS2 is successfully constructed via a surface carbonization strategy simply by sintering MoS2 microspheres and dicyandiamide (DCDA), which generates tiny NC nanoparticles on the MoS2 surface. The presence of NC nanoparticles on MoS2 not only facilitates the charge transfer and reaction kinetics but also promotes the hydrogen adsorption during the electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) process, thereby endowing the catalyst with a much lower overpotential and a higher current density in comparison to pristine MoS2. This work indicates that the surface carbonization strategy provides a promising way for designing highly active electrocatalysts in terms of surface structure engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Z-scheme photocatalysts with matched rates for reduction and oxidation half reactions benefit from the advantages of efficient light harvesting and effective separation of electron-hole pairs, which can maximize the water splitting performance. However, the 4-electron reaction and the slow transfer of holes render the oxidation reaction upon oxygen evolution photocatalyst to be the rate-determining step. Herein, we report on promoting the oxidation reaction in UiO-66-NH2@Au@CdS Z-scheme photocatalysts by using the aminated-functionalized linker bdc-NH2. Compared with pristine UiO-66 MOFs, UiO-66-NH2 not only extends the light harvesting range but also offers the high oxidation reaction performance matched with photocatalytic hydrogen generation. As a result, the highest H2 generation rate obtained is 39.5 µmol h−1, which is 2.18 times higher than that of the Z-scheme photocatalysts constructed by UiO-66. The present work clearly shows the essential importance in tuning the oxidation capacity of photosystem II in constructing Z-scheme photocatalysts for maximizing the water splitting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nickel phosphide (Ni2P) was grown on a graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) surface by annealing a mixture of g-C3N4, NiCl2, and NaH2PO2 at 400 °C for 2 h in an Ar atmosphere. During the annealing, Ni2P particles formed intimate interfaces with g-C3N4. As a result, charge transfer from photo-excited g-C3N4 to Ni2P was improved as demonstrated by the improved photocatalytic H2 generation (40.5 μmol h−1 g−1) compared to a physical mixture of Ni2P and g-C3N4 (trace H2 generation). Under optimal and identical experimental conditions, the H2 production rate on Ni2P-loaded g-C3N4 (2 wt%) is 82.5 μmol h−1 g−1, which is higher than that of Pt-loaded g-C3N4 (0.5 wt%) (72 μmol h−1 g−1). Impressively, Ni2P shows a highly stable H2 production activity despite being a non-noble metal co-catalyst. No activity loss occurs over repeated use and 24 h long-term H2 generation trials. In contrast, a pronounced reduction in H2 generation was observed for Pt-loaded g-C3N4 (0.5 wt%) over the same 24 hour trial period. Among their many advantages, including non-toxicity, low cost and natural abundance, Ni2P/g-C3N4 composites are a promising alternative for realizing efficient, long-lasting photocatalytic H2 production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1D porous g-C 3 N 4 nanorods were synthesized using chitosan as a template, offering a large surface area and enhanced visible light absorption. These nanorods exhibited a remarkable 8.3-fold increase in H 2 generation rate (26.6 μmol h -1 ) compared to bulk g-C 3 N 4 .