Wenyu Gao

The recombination of photo‐induced carriers is one of the most fatal restrictions in the high performance of many photocatalysts including graphitic carbon nitride (g‐C₃N₄). By employing a benzene‐based co‐monomer with the substituents in the matched positions during the thermal‐polymerization, a molecular ring‐substituting doping is successfully realized. The excited electrons and holes under the photo‐irradiation could be regulated into different sections in the crystal by the improved electronic structure. The light absorption, separation of photo‐generated carriers, and electroconductivity are all significantly enhanced in the modified photocatalyst. This substituting doping strategy at molecular level endowed the photocatalyst with an extraordinarily aggrandized hydrogen evolution rate (nearly 12 times), as well as a high stability.

This work presents a novel rapid and sensitive label-free electrochemical method for the detection of bacteria on surface nanostructures. A simple electrochemical deposition and calcination method is employed to prepare different gold nanostructures on FTO substrate. The sensor based on nanostructure gold exhibits excellent linear relation between E. coli DH5α bacteria and the changes of ΔR_ct, especially FTO-GEDC-D30, with a correction coefficient R² = 0.998. Both the spectrophotometric (OD₆₀₀ methods) and fluorescence-staining methods also verified the reliability of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) methods for evaluating the antibacterial activity of the gold nanostructure.

Reinforcing the carrier separation is the key issue to maximize the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution (PHE) efficiency of graphitic carbon nitride (g‐C₃N₄). By a surface engineering of gradual doping of graphited carbon rings within g‐C₃N₄, suitable energy band structures and built‐in electric fields are established. Photoinduced electrons and holes are impelled into diverse directions, leading to a 21‐fold improvement in the PHE rate.

An all-carbon aromatic ring substitutionally doped g-C ₃ N ₄ was synthesized with greatly enhanced light absorption, band structure and carrier separation, achieving a 3 times higher hydrogen evolution rate (HER).

A sandwich-structured CeO ₂ /graphene nanocomposite was synthesized with enhanced ORR electrocatalytic activity due to large amounts of Ce( iii ) in the thin CeO ₂ crystalline film.