A magnetically recyclable carbon nitride supported Au−Co nanoparticles (Au−Co@CN) displayed exceedingly high photocatalytic activity for hydrolysis of aqueous ammonia borane (NH 3 BH 3 , AB) solution. Combined with a synergetic effect between Au and Co nanoparticles, the Motty−Schottky effect at the metal−semiconductor interface remarkably facilitated the catalytic performance of the Au−Co@CN catalyst on the hydrolysis of AB. The TOF value of Au−Co@CN catalyst is 2897 mol H 2 mol −1 metal h −1 at 298 K under visible light irradiation, which is more than 3 times higher than that of the benchmarked catalyst, PVP-stabilized Au@Co nanoparticles.

Due to the high cost of Pt-based materials for electrocatalysis, substitute catalysts composed of nonprecious metals have been in high demand. Herein, an ultrastable electrocatalyst with cobalt nanocrystals grown through the plane of graphene subunits of nitrogen-doped graphenes was synthesized via a one-step route. The catalyst has more positive onset and half-wave potential than Pt/C, high methanol crossover tolerance, and superior stability. It is the introduction of strongly bonded cobalt nanocrystals into the network of graphenes that modulate the electronic properties of the latter, resulting in the superb electrocatalytic performance.

Transfer hydrogenation of unsaturated compounds can be conducted over Pd/CN catalysts at room temperature in an aqueous solution of formic acid.

A mild photochemical approach was applied to construct highly coupled metal-semiconductor dyads, which were found to efficiently facilitate the hydrogenation of nitrobenzene. Aniline was produced in excellent yield (>99 %, TOF: 1183) using formic acid as hydrogen source and water as solvent at room temperature. This general and green catalytic process is applicable to a wide range of nitroarenes without the involvement of high-pressure gases or sacrificial additives.