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Schiff-base-rich g-CxN4 supported PdAg nanowires as an efficient Mott–Schottky catalyst boosting photocatalytic dehydrogenation of formic acid

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Abstract

Developing an efficient photocatalyst, catalyzing formic acid (FA) dehydrogenation, can satisfy the demand of the H2 energy. Herein, a graphitic carbon nitride (g-CxN4)-based nanosheet (x = 3.2, 3.6 or 3.8) with melem rings conjugated by Schiff-base bond (N=C–C=N) was synthesized, tuning the bandgaps (Eg) of graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) in the range of 1.8 < Eg < 2.7 eV, and grown PdAg nanowires (NWs) on its surface forming an efficient PdAg NWs/g-CxN4 Mott–Schottky heterojunction for enhancing dehydrogenation photocatalysis of FA. The boosting photocatalysis benefits from the Schiff-base bond tuning the Eg of g-C3N4 and strongly coupling from the heterojunction. Among the heterojunction, the Pd5Ag5 NWs/g-C3.6N4 exhibits the best dehydrogenation photocatalysis of FA [turnover frequency (TOF) = 1230 h−1] under visible light (λ > 400 nm) without any additive at 25 °C, which is the best value among ever-reported ones. This work provides a new strategy to boost dehydrogenation photocatalysis of FA, which will be promising for practical application of H2 in future energy field.

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Acknowledgement

This study was financially supported by Heilongjiang Science Foundation (No. LH2020B006), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51871078, 21871221 and 21602175), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 3102017jc01001) and Start-Up Funding for Class D Talent of Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology (No. 1608720038).

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Author notes

  1. Hu Liu and Xue-Xiang Li have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi’an, 710055, China

    Hu Liu

  2. MIIT Key Laboratory of Critical Materials Technology for New Energy Conversion and Storage, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150001, China

    Xin-Yang Liu, Wei-Wei Yang & Yong-Sheng Yu

  3. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, 710072, China

    Xue-Xiang Li

  4. Department of Chemistry, Brown University, Providence, RI, 02912, USA

    Zhen-Hui Ma & Zhou-Yang Yin

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  1. Hu Liu
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Correspondence to Hu Liu or Yong-Sheng Yu.

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Liu, H., Li, XX., Liu, XY. et al. Schiff-base-rich g-CxN4 supported PdAg nanowires as an efficient Mott–Schottky catalyst boosting photocatalytic dehydrogenation of formic acid. Rare Met. 40, 808–816 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12598-020-01637-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12598-020-01637-5

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