Oxygen-doped Carbon Nitride Nanocages with Efficient Photon-to-Electron Conversion for Selective Oxidation of Xylose/Xylan to Yield Xylonic Acid

Highly efficient photon-to-electron conversion is crucial for achieving photocatalytic conversion.In this study,oxygen-doped carbon nitride nanocages(O@CNNCs)were engineered via dual strategies of morphology-controlled heteroatom doping,which was successfully used in the photocatalytic selective oxidation of xylose/xylan to xylonic acid.The nanocage-shaped O@CNNCs had a larger surface area,which was 4.02 times of carbon nitride(CN).Furthermore,with the assistance of morphology regulation and O-doping,O@CNNCs exhibit highly efficient photon-to-electron conversion,enhanced visible-light utilization,high photocurrent,low resistance,and fast separation/migration of electron-hole pairs.Correspondingly,the photocatalytic oxidation of xylose to xylonic acid using O@CNNCs was successfully achieved under mild reaction conditions with a yield of 83.4％.O@CNNCs have excellent recyclability,in which the yield of xylonic acid in the 5th cycle was 98.2％of its initial use.The O@CNNC photocatalytic system was also suitable for macromolecular xylan,and a xylonic acid yield of 77.34 mg was obtained when 100 mg xylan was used.The oxidation-active species captured experiments indicated that holes were crucial for the selective oxidation of xylose to xylonic acid.Overall,this study provides a new strategy for the preparation of photocatalysts with excellent photon-to-electron conversion and selective oxidation of biomass-derived feedstocks to xylonic acid.