A critical review on emerging photothermal-photocatalytic materials composed of g-C3N4 for energy production and environmental remediation

Abstract

In the recent decade, the utilization of renewable, abundant, free-cost, and inexhaustible sunlight for the energy conversion aim has attracted tremendous research attention. In this regard, solar-to-heat conversion has exhibited high potential to be implemented for improving photocatalytic performances towards pollutants degradation, microorganism inactivation, H₂ evolution, as well as carbon dioxide reduction. This proposed a promising avenue to provide novel vitality into water remediation and energy generation, resulting in the development of solar-enforced processes. Therefore, it is vital to pave and discuss the recent achievements and issues in this multi-disciplinary field. In this review paper, the photothermal-photocatalytic materials composed of graphitic carbon nitride (g-C₃N₄) will be overviewed. Moreover, the applications of g-C₃N₄-based materials in different areas, including water remediation, microorganism inactivation, and solar-driven energy generation will be discussed and summarized. Additionally, the challenges/perspectives related to the cutting-edge researches and efficient applications are highlighted. This review paper can propose deep insights to more development of the solar-driven wastewater treatments and employing photocatalytic processes for solar-energy conversion. In spite of many attempts in the integrated photothermal-photocatalysis researches, there are still a significant number of gaps for further deep-insight researches to address the required characteristics of the employed materials in the field of photothermal-photocatalysis processes.