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The Co 3 O 4 /g-C 3 N 4 heterojunctions were prepared by a facile one-pot thermal decomposition technique. Compared with g-C 3 N 4 , it was found that Co 3 O 4 /g-C 3 N 4 heterojunctions possessed a higher Brunner-Emmet-Teller (BET) surface area, which was beneficial to the diffusion of aim molecules on the electrode surfaces. And the optimal Co 3 O 4 /g-C 3 N 4 heterojunctions exhibited a narrower band gap and a higher donor density, resulting in an excellent electrocatalytic activity for environmental phenolic hormones. Moreover, the Co 3 O 4 /g-C 3 N 4 heterojunctions were used for the electrochemical sensing of environmental phenolic hormones such as bisphenol A, pentachlorophenol, p -nitrophenol and octylphenol. All detection ranges reached three orders of magnitude, showing a lower limit of detection of 10 −9 mol L −1 . So, sensitivity and accurate determination of environmental phenolic hormones in real water samples may use this Co 3 O 4 /g-C 3 N 4 heterojunctions modified electrode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking the advantage of the good matching of the valence and conduction bands of carbon nitride (g-C 3 N 4) and copper oxide (CuO), we successfully fabricated a two-dimensional (2D) step-scheme heterojunction of g-C 3 N 4 /CuO via hydrothermal and pyrolysis techniques. The potential of applying this heterojunction in a high-performance electrochemical sensor for environmental hormone nonylphenol (NP) detection was investigated. An amperometric analysis resulted in a linear response on the g-C 3 N 4 /CuO modified sensor for NP ranges from 3.00 × 10−8 to 5.12 × 10−6 mol L−1 with a detection limit (S/N = 3) of 1.20 × 10−8 mol L−1. This excellent electrochemical performance could be attributed to a built-in electric field effect at the 2D step-scheme heterojunction interface, thereby boosting the interfacial charge transfer and improving the sensitivity of NP detection. The proposed sensor demonstrated a high selectivity for NP even in the presence of several common environmental hormones. This finding can be attributed to the unique electronic structure of NP molecule and its strong interaction with the 2D g-C 3 N 4 /CuO step-scheme heterojunction, as verified by density functional theory (DFT) calculations. This work provides new insights about the gradient energy band for fabricating highly-efficient electrochemical sensor, and paves the way for its potential applications in monitoring crucial environmental components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ternary heterojunctions g-C3N4/ZnS/CuS with different morphologies were constructed. The g-C3N4/ZnS/CuS (hexagonal-nanosheets) exhibited the largest photocurrent, the best photocatalytic and electrochemical activity, which revealed the influence discipline of different morphologies on photoconductivity, photo/electro-catalytic activity. It indicated that this heterojunction can be used as an excellent photoconductor device, a high-efficiency photo/electro-catalyst.Graphical Abstract: [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction of high-quality graphitic carbon nitride (g-C 3 N 4 )-based heterojunctions remains a grand challenge. Herein, the ternary heterojunctions of g-C 3 N 4 /ZnS/CuS has been fabricated via a facile three-step process: the polymerization of melamine, the loading of ZnS nanoparticles (NPs), and further deposition of hexagonal CuS nanosheets. Compared with pure g-C 3 N 4 , there is an extended visible-light absorption over 500–800 nm for g-C 3 N 4 /ZnS/CuS, which enables the possible utilization of low-energy visible light. Moreover, ZnS NPs interface layers and hexagonal CuS nano-sheets can be both utilized as electron co-catalysts to markedly improve the separation efficiency of the photo-generated electrons and holes and decrease interface transfer resistance, resulting in highly efficient photocatalytic activity for degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) and significantly enhanced photoconductivity in an all-solid-state device. This work can be helpful for developing other effective hetero-structured photocatalysts and photoelectrical devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]