Versatile synthesis of Pd and Cu Co-doped porous carbon nitride nanowires for catalytic CO oxidation reaction

Developing efficient catalyst for CO oxidation at low-temperature is crucial in various industrial and environmental remediation applications. Herein, we present a versatile approach for controlled synthesis of carbon nitride nanowires (CN NWs) doped with palladium and copper (Pd/Cu/CN NWs) for CO oxidation reactions. This is based on the polymerization of melamine by nitric acid in the presence of metal-precursors followed by annealing under nitrogen. This intriguingly drove the formation of well-defined, one-dimensional nanowires architecture with a high surface area (120 m2 g?1) and doped atomically with Pd and Cu. The newly-designed Pd/Cu/CN NWs fully converted CO to CO2 at 149�C, that was substantially more active than that of Pd/CN NWs (283�C) and Cu/CN NWs (329�C). Moreover, Pd/Cu/CN NWs fully reserved their initial CO oxidation activity after 20 h. This is mainly attributed to the combination between the unique catalytic properties of Pd/Cu and outstanding physicochemical properties of CN NWs, which tune the adsorption energies of CO reactant and reaction product during the CO oxidation reaction. The as-developed method may open new frontiers on using CN NWs supported various noble metals for CO oxidation reaction. � 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.This research was funded by Qatar National Research Fund 7-485-1-091

Precise fabrication of porous one-dimensional gC3N4 nanotubes doped with Pd and Cu atoms for efficient CO oxidation and CO2 reduction

Rational design of graphitic carbon nitride nanostructures (gC3N4) is vital for various catalytic applications. Herein, we synthesized porous gC3N4 nanotubes (gC3N4NTs) doped with Pd and Cu (Pd/Cu/gC3N4NTs) via the consecutive polymerization of melamine in an ethylene glycol solution containing the metal precursors followed by annealing. The gC3N4NTs, thus produced, possess a well-defined one-dimensional porous nanotube architecture, large surface area (240 m2 g−1), and a homogenous dispersion of Pd and Cu with no need for templates and/or multistep reactions. This merits the CO oxidation activity of Pd/Cu/gC3N4NTs by 56 °C and 96 °C higher than that of Pd/gC3N4NTs and Cu/gC3N4NTs, respectively. The CO2 reduction activity of Pd/Cu/gC3N4NTs was a 5.5-fold higher than metal-free gC3N4NTs. Also, the UV-light irradiation enhanced the CO2 performance of Pd/Cu/gC3N4NTs by three times. The presented study may pave the way for the utilization of metal-doped gC3N4NTs in various applications.This work was supported by Qatar University under High Impact-Fund Program Grant ( QUHI-CAS-19/20-1 ). Authors would like to acknoweldge Qatra University Graduate Research Assistantship program offerend to Mrs. Ghada Abdo. Appendix AScopu

Investigation of Cu 0.5 Ni 0.5 /Nb interface transparency by using current-perpendicular-to-plane measurement

A direct determination of the interfacial transparency on the basis of current-perpendicular-to-plane (CPP) resistances for Cu 0.5 Ni 0.5 /Nb layered system is presented. This particular realization has substantial significance for understanding the interfacial transport in such heterostructures. The unexpected large critical thickness for this weak ferromagnetic containing system can be attributed to the strong pair-breaking effect as a result of the high interfacial transparency. Besides, the strong pair-breaking also plays a decisive role in the occurrence of the dimensionality crossover of the temperature dependent upper critical magnetic field. Copyright EDP Sciences, SIF, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011