Electronic structure of heterojunction MoO2/g-C3N4 catalyst for oxidative desulfurization

By Kun Chen, Xiao-min Zhang, Xian‐Feng Yang, Mengzhen Jiao, Zhen Zhou, Ming-hui Zhang, Danhong Wang, Xian-He Bu. Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, 2018

218 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract Electronic structure of active sites plays a crucial role in redox catalysts. Herein, graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) decorated with metallic MoO2 heterojunction nanocomposites were successfully synthesized through a facile calcination route. XPS, UPS, UV–vis and PL spectra results suggest electron transfer from the conduction band (CB) of g-C3N4 to unfilled π* band of metallic MoO2 in the metal-semiconductor heterojunction. The electron transfer ensures high intrinsic oxidative desulfurization activity for MoO2/g-C3N4 composites. Radical scavenger experiments indicate that the electron transfer facilitates the enrichment of electron density around Mo active sites and control the rate-determining step of oxidative desulfurization. The approach can be extended to other low valent transition metal oxides possessing d electrons for enhanced catalytic activity in redox reactions.

Subfields: Materials Chemistry, Mechanical Engineering, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/38ec6a5266ecce56700fd96131990d58115abab9