MATOS, J.; POON P. S.:
Libro de Resumen del XXXIII Jornadas Chilenas de Química. 30 (2020).
Abstract
In this talk, a journey from the classical metal- and semiconductor-based to a sustainable metal- free carbon-based photocatalysis will be presented. Examples from our group will show the influence of the pore size distribution and surface chemistry of graphene-based catalysts upon photocatalytic processes. The influence of these materials in aqueous-phase photocatalytic reactions related with polluted water remediation will be discussed as an opening act to highlight the potential of the confining pore effect of nanoporous carbons and the intrinsically photochemical activity of heteroatom-containing surface functional groups. chemicals.
It is concluded that for a correct description of the active sites in metal-free and semiconductor- free photocatalytic reactions, a new defining to correctly report the photocatalytic turnover number (TON) and frequency (TOF) in terms of the textural and surface properties is required. Based on the surface density of adsorbed molecules, our group have reported a global surface reaction-rate constant that corresponds to a new definition of the TON to stablish the photocatalytic activity of metal- free carbon-based photocatalysts. This new kinetic parameter will permit to normalize the photocatalytic activity as a photocatalytic TOF, here denoted as PTOF, which is highly dependent of the pore size distributions and chemical surface groups of nanoporous carbons and the formation of interfacial phases.