Sharif Digital Repository

Cupric oxide (CuO) is a semiconductor of choice for photocathode in photoelectrochemical (PEC) applications due to its great sunlight absorption capability. However, photocorrosion is the main drawback of CuO. Herein, CuO/graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) with a unique microstructure, enhanced PEC performance, and considerable photostability is synthesized under microwave irradiation. A facile, one-pot method is utilized to directly deposit the nanocomposite onto fluorine-doped tin oxide from a solution containing copper precursor and urea. Possible mechanism of CuO/g-C3N4 formation through this novel method is investigated. It is elucidated that controlled amounts of urea critically... 

The fabrication of the C6N7 monolayer [Zhao et al., Sci. Bull. 66, 1764 (2021)] motivated us to discover the optical, structural, mechanical, and electronic properties of the C6N7 monolayer by employing the density functional theory (DFT) method. We find that the shear modulus and Young's modulus of the C6N7 monolayer are smaller than the relevant values of graphene. However, Poisson's ratio is more significant than that of graphene. Applying the PBE (HSE06) functional bandgap of the C6N7 monolayer is 1.2 (1.97) eV, and the electronic dispersion is almost isotropic around the Γ point. C6N7 is more active in the ultraviolet region as compared to the visible light region. This study provides... 

The construction of binary and ternary heterojunctions has gathered attention in water remediation applications. Herein, g-C3N4, MIL-101(Fe), and MIL-101(Fe)/g-C3N4 binary composite were synthesized by in-situ growth of MIL-101(Fe) crystals along with the nanosheets of g-C3N4. The materials have been characterized by XRD, FTIR, SEM, EDS, DRS, PL, and BET/BJH. The highest degradation efficiency achieved using MIL-101(Fe)/g-C3N4 nanocomposite was 99.3% while the pristine g-C3N4 degraded only 40% of the pollutants by photocatalyst dosage = 0.005 g, pH = 4.8, and irradiation time = 90 min condition. This enhanced photocatalytic performance might be attributed to improved optical properties and... 

Semiconductor-based photocatalysis is an efficient approach for degradation of organic pollutants. In this context, ZnO/g-C3N4 composite nanofibers containing carbonaceous species with different concentrations of g-C3N4 nanosheets (x = 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2, 10 wt%) noted as ZnO/carbon/(x wt%) g-C3N4 are prepared by electrospinning technique. For preparation of the composite nanofibers, bulk g-C3N4 is exfoliated to nanosheets, and then it is mixed with polyvinyl alcohol and appropriate zinc acetate content followed by electrospinning process. Thermal annealing of the as spun zinc acetate/poly(vinyl alcohol)/g-C3N4 nanosheets sample under N2 atmosphere leads to the formation of carbonaceous species... 

Developing an efficient visible-light-driven photocatalyst is believed to be a practical solution for clean energy and environmental remediation. The present study aimed to broaden current knowledge of the graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4)-based plasmonic photocatalysts by decorating polydopamine-grafted g-C3N4 (PDA/g-C3N4) with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). The nanocomposite was prepared using a facile synthesis method, while XPS and microscopy measurements confirmed the homogenous dispersion of AgNPs on PDA/g-C3N4. AgNPs successfully reduced the recombination rate of photoinduced electron-hole pairs. The calculated bandgap energy was decreased from 2.7 eV for pure g-C3N4 to 2.1 eV for... 

In this contribution, spinel MgAl2O4 nanospheres prepared by the combustion method were coupled with thermally-exfoliated g-C3N4 nanosheets (TE-GCN) through an efficient isoelectric point-assisted calcination technique. Physical characteristics of the synthesized nanocomposite were understudied utilizing the XRD, FT-IR, FE-SEM, TEM, BET-BJH, UV–Vis DRS, PL, and EIS analyses. This material was used as a novel nano-photocatalyst for degradation of reactive red 195 (RR195) industrial dye contaminant. Results revealed that, a successful synthesis of a heterojunction between the components of the nanocomposite was achieved. This exhibited an enormously improved electron-hole separation leading to... 

In this study, spinel CuCo2O4 (CCO) with a hierarchical hollow sphere morphology was encapsulated in V2O5-decorated ultra-wrinkled graphitic carbon-nitride (VO-UCN) for the first time via a facile glycerol-assisted solvothermal method in the interest of developing a novel high-efficiency double Z-type nano-photocatalyst (denoted as VO-UCN@CCO). The remarkable physicochemical features of the as-prepared nano-photocatalysts were verified using diverse characterization techniques including TGA, XRD, FT-IR, FE-SEM, TEM, BET, UV–vis DRS, PL, EIS, and transient photocurrent techniques. Herein, VO-UCN@CCO nanocomposite was employed for the photodisintegration of levofloxacin (LVOF) antibiotic under...