Carbon-Doped Boron Nitride: A Metal-Free Catalyst for Superior Photocatalysis and Precision Adsorption

Boron nitride (BN) doped with carbon atoms is a new metal-free nanoparticle that has various applications, including photocatalysis and as an adsorbent in adsorption processes. Regarding application as a photocatalyst, in fact, the band gap energy of BN is roughly 5.2 eV, which is very high if compared with metal-based photocatalysts such as TiO₂, ZnO, etc. However, composite and doped BN give excellent activity in photodegradation with gap energy ranging between 1.5 and 2.5 eV. As it is a porous material, it gives extra efficiency to photocatalysis, which provides a larger surface area. With respect to adsorption, the addition of functional groups to BN edges makes the BN nanoparticle selective, which provides porosity, increase active sites and a large surface area, which varies from 100 to 950 m² g⁻¹. Additionally, carbon-doped boron nitride can be used in electrocatalysis processes like carbon dioxide reduction and ammonia synthesis. All in all, carbon-doped boron nitride (BN) shows potential environmental remediation catalyst. Its enhanced photocatalytic activity, large surface area and improved visible light absorption enable BN to degrade pollutants in water medium for environmental clean-up applications. The preparation condition marginally effects the structural, optical and electronic more specifically band edges position of carbon doped BN.