Molecular Heptazine–Triazine Junction over Carbon Nitride Frameworks for Artificial Photosynthesis of Hydrogen Peroxide

Abstract

Revealing the photocatalytic mechanism between various junctions and catalytic activities has become a hotspot in photocatalytic systems. Herein, an internal molecular heptazine/triazine (H/T) junction in crystalline carbon nitride (HTCN) is constructed and devoted to selective two-electron oxygen reduction reaction (2e^- ORR) for efficient hydrogen peroxide (H₂ O₂ ) production. In-situ X-ray diffraction spectra under various temperatures authenticate the successful formation of molecular H/T junction in HTCN during the calcining process rather than physically mixing. The increased surface photovoltage and transient photovoltage signals, and the decreased exciton binding energy undoubtably elucidate that an obvious increasement of carrier density and diffusion capability of photogenerated electrons are realized over HTCN. Additionally, the analyses of in situ photoirradiated Kelvin probe force microscopy and femto-second transient absorption spectra reveal the successful construction of the strong internal built-in-electric field and the existence of the majority of long-lived shallow trapped electrons associated with molecular H/T junction over HTCN, respectively. Benefiting from these, the photocatalytic results exhibit an incredible improvement (96.5-fold) for H₂ O₂ production. This novel work provides a comprehensive understanding of the long-lived reactive charges in molecular H/T junctions for strengthening the driving-force for photocatalytic H₂ O₂ production, which opens potential applications for enhancing PCN-based photocatalytic redox reactions.