Enhancing deep visible-light photoelectrocatalysis with a single solid-state synthesis: Carbon nitride/TiO2 heterointerface

Silva IF, Pulignani C, Odutola J, Galushchinskiy A, Texeira IF, Isaacs M, Mesa CA, Scoppola E, These A, Badamdorj B, Ángel Muñoz-Márquez M, Zizak I, Palgrave R, Tarakina NV, Gimenez S, Brabec C, Bachmann J, Cortes E, Tkachenko N, Savateev O, Jiménez Calvo P (2025)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2025

Journal

Book Volume: 678

Pages Range: 518-533

DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2024.09.028

Abstract

Visible-light responsive, stable, and abundant absorbers are required for the rapid integration of green, clean, and renewable technologies in a circular economy. Photoactive solid–solid heterojunctions enable multiple charge pathways, inhibiting recombination through efficient charge transfer across the interface. This study spotlights the physico-chemical synergy between titanium dioxide (TiO2) anatase and carbon nitride (CN) to form a hybrid material. The CN(10%)-TiO2(90%) hybrid outperforms TiO2 and CN references and literature homologs in four photo and photoelectrocatalytic reactions. CN-TiO2 achieved a four-fold increase in benzylamine conversion, with photooxidation conversion rates of 51, 97, and 100 % at 625, 535, and 465 nm, respectively. The associated energy transfer mechanism was elucidated. In photoelectrochemistry, CN-TiO2 exhibited 23 % photoactivity of the full-spectrum measurement when using a 410 nm filter. Our findings demonstrate that CN-TiO2 displayed a band gap of 2.9 eV, evidencing TiO2 photosensitization attributed to enhanced charge transfer at the heterointerface boundaries via staggered heterojunction type II.

Authors with CRIS profile

Involved external institutions

Max-Planck-Institut für Kolloid- und Grenzflächenforschung / Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces Germany (DE) University of Cambridge United Kingdom (GB) Rutherford Appleton Laboratory United Kingdom (GB) Università degli Studi di Camerino (Unicam) Italy (IT) Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie (HZB) Germany (DE) Universitat Jaume I (UJI) Spain (ES) Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) Germany (DE) University of Tampere (UTA) / Tampereen yliopisto (Tay) Finland (FI)

How to cite

APA:

Silva, I.F., Pulignani, C., Odutola, J., Galushchinskiy, A., Texeira, I.F., Isaacs, M.,... Jiménez Calvo, P. (2025). Enhancing deep visible-light photoelectrocatalysis with a single solid-state synthesis: Carbon nitride/TiO2 heterointerface. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 678, 518-533. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcis.2024.09.028

MLA:

Silva, Ingrid F., et al. "Enhancing deep visible-light photoelectrocatalysis with a single solid-state synthesis: Carbon nitride/TiO2 heterointerface." Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 678 (2025): 518-533.

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