Construction of Built‐In Electric Field within Silver Phosphate Photocatalyst for Enhanced Removal of Recalcitrant Organic Pollutants

Abstract

Semiconductor photocatalysis technology has aroused great interest in photocatalytic degradation, but it suffers from the drawbacks of fast electron‐hole recombination and unsatisfactory degradation efficiency. Herein, a novel photocatalyst Ag3PO4@NC with excellent photocatalytic activity is successfully prepared, characterized, and evaluated for the efficient removal of organic pollutants. After visible light irradiation for 5, 8, and 12 min, the photocatalytic degradation efficiency of norfloxacin, diclofenac, and phenol on the composite catalyst reaches 100%, and the apparent rate constant of which is 19.2, 48.7, and 23.2 times than that of the pure Ag3PO4, respectively. The density functional theory calculation results indicate that there is a built‐in electric field from N‐doped carbon (NC) to Ag3PO4 at the interface of the composite catalyst. Driven by the electric field, the photogenerated electrons of Ag3PO4 can be readily transferred to the NC, leading to the efficient separation of photogenerated carriers and the significant improvement of the catalytic performance. The results of radical trapping experiments and electron spin resonance analysis show that photogenerated holes and O2− play an important role in the photodegradation process. This work provides a universal strategy of construction built‐in electric field through coupling with NC to improve the photocatalytic performance of photocatalysts.

Electrochemical C–N coupling with perovskite hybrids toward efficient urea synthesis

“…30 In this regard, constructing built-in elds at the heterointerface to promote a spontaneous electron transfer process will supply more possibilities for generating desirable two opposite charged regions. 41 This design concept has been conrmed by the investigation of various perovskite-based semiconductor catalysts, which can constitute distinct p-n junctions and thus accelerate local charge redistribution at the heterointerface. 40 The band theory of solids has conrmed that the behavior of electron transfer is strongly correlated to the work function of semiconductors.…”

Molybdenum Dioxide Nanoparticles Anchored on Nitrogen‐Doped Carbon Nanotubes as Oxidative Desulfurization Catalysts: Role of Electron Transfer in Activity and Reusability

“…Carbonaceous materials have been determined as functional supports with great potential owing to their advantages of low cost, easy availability, tunable physicochemical properties, and electronic structures. [9,18] The doping of nitrogen atoms with high spin and charge density into the carbon framework can give carbonaceous materials extraordinary electron-donating capability, further improving the activity of various catalysts, especially transition metal oxides. [17][18][19] For example, Li et al claimed that the electron-donating behavior of N-doped carbon materials to Fe species results in the electron-rich state of Fe atoms, thereby promoting the catalytic activity of Fe-based catalyst.…”

“…[9,18] The doping of nitrogen atoms with high spin and charge density into the carbon framework can give carbonaceous materials extraordinary electron-donating capability, further improving the activity of various catalysts, especially transition metal oxides. [17][18][19] For example, Li et al claimed that the electron-donating behavior of N-doped carbon materials to Fe species results in the electron-rich state of Fe atoms, thereby promoting the catalytic activity of Fe-based catalyst. [17] Chen et al revealed that electron-donating N-doped carbon materials can increase the dispersion of cobalt nano-particles via enhancing the metal-support interaction, leading to the improvement of catalytic activity.…”

Efficient photocatalytic degradation of dyes using photo-deposited Ag nanoparticles on ZnO structures: simple morphological control of ZnO

“…Therefore, using Ag would be more eco-friendly and easier to apply in the industry. [32][33][34][35][36][37][38] The deposited Ag nanoparticles (Ag NPs) on the photocatalyst surface can effectively suppress the recombination of photogenerated electron-hole pairs due to the Schottky barrier formed at the interface between the metal and semiconductor. Moreover, surface plasmon resonance (SPR) of Ag NPs signicantly improves the absorption of visible light.…”