Photocatalytic solar fuel production and environmental remediation through experimental and DFT based research on CdSe-QDs-coupled P-doped-g-C3N4 composites

摘要： Solar energy harvesting and conversion into useful chemical energy with the aid of semiconductor photocatalysts is a promising technique to solve both energy and environmental issues. This work reports a successful synthesis of CdSe quantum dots (QDs) modified phosphorus doped g-C3N4 (P-CN) for advanced photocatalytic applications. Phosphorus doping and structural coupling with CdSe QDs are shown to significantly extend visible-light response of g-C3N4 up to 700 nm. The optimized sample 4CdSe/P-CN demonstrates enhanced visible-light driven overall water splitting activities for H2 and O2 evolution i.e. 113 and 55.5 μmol.h?1.g?1, respectively, as well as very high photocatalytic CO2 to CH4 conversion efficiency (47 μmol.h?1.g?1). It also exhibit higher activity (78 %) for 2,4-dichlorophenol degradation as compared to pristine CN-sample. Combined photoluminescence, transient/single wavelength photocurrent, photoelectrochemical, and coumarin fluorescence spectroscopy demonstrate that 4CdSe/P-CN nanocomposite exhibit enhanced charge separation efficiency which is responsible for improved visible light catalytic activities. Our work thus provide a new strategy to design low-cost and sustainable photocatalysis with wide visible-light activity for practical overall water splitting and CO2 reduction applications.