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Carbon nitride caught in the act of artificial photosynthesis

Author

Listed:
  • Daniel Cruz

    (Department of Inorganic Chemistry)

  • Sonia Żółtowska

    (Colloid Chemistry Department)

  • Oleksandr Savateev

    (Colloid Chemistry Department
    New Territories)

  • Markus Antonietti

    (Colloid Chemistry Department)

  • Paolo Giusto

    (Colloid Chemistry Department)

Abstract

Covalent semiconductors of the carbon nitride family are among the most promising systems to realize “artificial photosynthesis”, that is exploiting synthetic materials which use sunlight as an energy source to split water into its elements or converting CO2 into added value chemicals. However, the role of surface interactions and electronic properties on the reaction mechanism remain still elusive. Here, we use in-situ spectroscopic techniques that enable monitoring surface interactions in carbon nitride under artificial photosynthetic conditions. We show that the water adsorption and light illumination cause changes of the surface electron density, which activate the photocatalyst and enable the water splitting process. Our results reveal critical details on the photocatalytic mechanism, which proceeds through proton-coupled electron transfer, and provide key information to design more efficient photocatalyst for artificial photosynthesis.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel Cruz & Sonia Żółtowska & Oleksandr Savateev & Markus Antonietti & Paolo Giusto, 2025. "Carbon nitride caught in the act of artificial photosynthesis," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-7, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-024-55518-x
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-55518-x
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jiani Qin & Jesús Barrio & Guiming Peng & Jonathan Tzadikov & Liel Abisdris & Michael Volokh & Menny Shalom, 2020. "Direct growth of uniform carbon nitride layers with extended optical absorption towards efficient water-splitting photoanodes," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-9, December.
    2. Marwin H. S. Segler & Mike Preuss & Mark P. Waller, 2018. "Planning chemical syntheses with deep neural networks and symbolic AI," Nature, Nature, vol. 555(7698), pages 604-610, March.
    3. Christopher M. Goodwin & Patrick Lömker & David Degerman & Bernadette Davies & Mikhail Shipilin & Fernando Garcia-Martinez & Sergey Koroidov & Jette Katja Mathiesen & Raffael Rameshan & Gabriel L. S. , 2024. "Operando probing of the surface chemistry during the Haber–Bosch process," Nature, Nature, vol. 625(7994), pages 282-286, January.
    4. Oleksandr Savateev & Karlo Nolkemper & Thomas D. Kühne & Vitaliy Shvalagin & Yevheniia Markushyna & Markus Antonietti, 2023. "Extent of carbon nitride photocharging controls energetics of hydrogen transfer in photochemical cascade processes," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, December.
    5. Yubao Zhao & Peng Zhang & Zhenchun Yang & Lina Li & Jingyu Gao & Sheng Chen & Tengfeng Xie & Caozheng Diao & Shibo Xi & Beibei Xiao & Chun Hu & Wonyong Choi, 2021. "Mechanistic analysis of multiple processes controlling solar-driven H2O2 synthesis using engineered polymeric carbon nitride," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-11, December.
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