(Invited) Flexocatalysis of Single Pt Atoms Loaded Graphitic Carbon Nitride (g-C3N4)

Tuesday, 11 October 2022: 11:40
Room 209 (The Hilton Atlanta)
Y. T. Wang and J. M. Wu (National Tsing Hua University)
Single-atom catalyst as an advanced co-catalyst shows promising potential in energy fields such as water splitting, degradation of pollutants, chemical conversion field, etc. It takes advantage of increased active sites and sub-nanometer size effects with electron confinement by reducing the size of supported noble metals; furthermore, a single-atom catalyst maximizes the atomic efficiency of metals and provides a low atomic coordination number for the active center. In this work, we discovered that the isolated single atoms (SAs) stabilized by the support of g-C3N4 as named by SA-Pt/g-C3N4. Single-atom catalyst is synthesized by anchoring Pt atoms in graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) with different Pt-loading [0.01wt% to 1wt% H₂PtCl₆·(H₂O)₆]. Under flexocatalytic process, the k rate constant of the SA-Pt/g-C3N4 with 0.01wt% of Pt is 3×10-3 s-1 for decomposition of dye molecules, which is 2 times the pristine g-C3N4. In addition, the flexocatalytic hydrogen evolution of SA-Pt/g-C3N4 provides H2 production, reaching nearly 125 μmolgh-1, which is 312% of the pristine g-C3N4 (~40 μmolgh-1). The working mechanism of flexocatalytic activity suggests the mechanical strain-induced flexoelectric potential (flexopotential) and proceeding with redox's electrochemical reaction. In addition, the single-atom act as a critical role in attracting electrons to accelerate the reaction process. The single-atom catalyst of 2D materials is highly potential for applying in water splitting and degradation of pollutants through the flexocatalytic process.