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An Earth‐Abundant Ni‐Based Single‐Atom Catalyst for Selective Photodegradation of Pollutants
Author(s) -
Vilé Gianvito,
Sharma Priti,
Nachtegaal Maarten,
Tollini Flavio,
Moscatelli Davide,
Sroka-Bartnicka Anna,
Tomanec Ondrej,
Petr Martin,
Filip Jan,
Pieta Izabela S.,
Zbořil Radek,
Gawande Manoj B.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
solar rrl
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.544
H-Index - 37
ISSN - 2367-198X
DOI - 10.1002/solr.202100176
Subject(s) - catalysis , photocatalysis , photodegradation , nanoparticle , materials science , chemical engineering , degradation (telecommunications) , metal , nickel , pollutant , electron transfer , phase (matter) , atom (system on chip) , nanotechnology , photochemistry , chemistry , organic chemistry , metallurgy , embedded system , telecommunications , computer science , engineering
Highly efficient catalytic technologies are urgently needed to remove pharmaceutical pollutants from water. In this work, the preparation, characterization, and photocatalytic performance of an earth‐abundant Ni‐based heterogeneous catalyst featuring highly dispersed Ni species over nanosheets of carbon nitride are reported. The absence of any metallic nickel phase has been confirmed by spectrometric analyses, unveiling the NiN environment for the metal centers and attaining synergistic interfacial carrier transfer via NNiN coordination. By combining advanced characterizations with kinetic investigations, it is demonstrated that these newly formed isolated single atoms of Ni act as a bridge, facilitating faster electron transfer, increasing the charge density on Ni, and reducing the photocarrier transfer barrier. Compared to literature precedents, this substantially enhances the degradation of gemfibrozil, a model pharmaceutical pollutant found in wastewater, reducing the formation of toxic benzenic byproducts during photooxidation. This effect, which is not observed over conventional nanoparticle‐based materials, discriminates the role of single‐atom and nanoparticle‐based catalysis during degradation of pollutants. This work opens new avenues in designing selective and earth‐abundant photocatalysts for advanced oxidation processes, showing the importance of atom coordination to control the surface and catalytic properties of single‐atom materials.