Building a Bridge from Papermaking to Solar Fuels.
Zaiyong JiangXinhan ZhangWei SunDeren YangPaul N DuchesneYugang GaoZeyan WangTingjiang YanZhimin YuanGuihua YangXingxiang JiJiachuan ChenBaibiao HuangGeoffrey A OzinPublished in: Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English) (2019)
Black liquor, an industrial waste product of papermaking, is primarily used as a low-grade combustible energy source. Despite its high lignin content, the potential utility of black liquor as a feedstock in products manufacturing, remains to be exploited. Demonstrated here in is the use of black liquor as a primary feed-stock for synthesizing graphene quantum dots that exhibit both up-conversion and photoluminescence when excited using visible/near-infrared radiation, thereby enabling the photosensitization of ultraviolet-absorbing TiO2 nanosheets. In addition, these graphene quantum dots can trap photo-generated electrons to realize the effective separation of electron-hole pairs. Together, these two processes facilitate the solar-powered generation of H2 from H2 O, and CO from H2 O-CO2 , using broadband solar radiation.
Keyphrases
- quantum dots
- low grade
- energy transfer
- sensitive detection
- high grade
- heavy metals
- room temperature
- electron transfer
- wastewater treatment
- carbon nanotubes
- solar cells
- radiation induced
- liquid chromatography
- radiation therapy
- walled carbon nanotubes
- mass spectrometry
- gold nanoparticles
- sewage sludge
- reduced graphene oxide