Chinese Journal of Catalysis ›› 2027, Vol. 92: 37-64.DOI: 10.1016/S1872-2067(26)65252-7

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Recent advances in g-C3N4-based S-scheme photocatalyst

Shike Wanga,1, Man Langa,1, Feng Wangb,*(), Pengfei Xiaa,*(), Dieqing Zhanga,*()   

  1. a The Education Ministry Key Laboratory of Resource Chemistry,Joint International Research Laboratory of Resource Chemistry, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Functional Materials, College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai 200234, China
    b Electronics and Photonics Materials, Department of Physics, Chemistry, and Biology (IFM), Linköping University, Linköping 58183, Sweden
  • Received:2026-08-11 Accepted:2026-08-21 Online:2027-01-02 Published:2026-10-30
  • Contact: *E-mail: dqzhang@shnu.edu.cn (D. Zhang),
    forsky@shnu.edu.cn (P. Xia),
    feng.wang@liu.se (F. Wang).
  • About author:Feng Wang received his PhD from The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Since 2023, he has been an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology at Linköping University, Sweden. He has previously been awarded a VINNMER Fellowship (Sweden, 2017), a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship (European Commission, 2018), and an Åforsk Entrepreneurship Scholarship (Sweden, 2023). His research has been supported by funding from the Swedish Research Council, STINT, the Formas Network Grant, Olle Engkvists Stiftelse, Carl Tryggers Stiftelse, and the Swedish Government Strategic Research Area in Materials Science at Linköping University. His research interests focus on developing novel materials for sustainable energy technologies, particularly solar cells and photocatalytic hydrogen production through water splitting. Feng Wang has co-authored more than 100 peer-reviewed publications in high-impact journals, which have received over 11,000 citations with an h-index of 49.
    Pengfei Xia (College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Shanghai Normal University) holds a Ph.D. degree and is currently engaged in teaching and research at Shanghai Normal University. Prior to joining Shanghai Normal University, He worked at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China. His research mainly focuses on semiconductor photocatalysis and solar-energy conversion, particularly photocatalytic H2 evolution and CO2 conversion, with emphasis on the design of heterojunction photocatalysts, regulation of interfacial charge transfer, and elucidation of photocatalytic reaction mechanisms. He has led research projects supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the National Postdoctoral Program for Innovative Talents, and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation. His research has been published in leading journals including Advanced Materials, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Advanced Functional Materials, and Nanoscale. His recent work focuses on regulating interfacial electronic structures and charge-transfer pathways to improve the efficiency and selectivity of photocatalytic energy conversion.
    Dieqing Zhang (College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Shanghai Normal University) received her Ph.D. degree from The Chinese University of Hong Kong. She has been awarded the National Science Fund for Excellent Young Scholars and the Shanghai Eastern Talent Leading Project, and has received multiple honors, including the March 8th Red-Banner Pacesetter of the Shanghai Education System, Shanghai Young Top Talent, the Pujiang Talent Program, Shuguang Scholar, and Young Science and Technology Rising Star. Her research focuses on environmental chemistry and atmospheric pollution control chemistry, with particular emphasis on the deep purification and resource utilization of nitrogen oxide pollutants. Her work centers on the precise design of catalysts and the elucidation of conversion mechanisms, providing fundamental and applied support for the development of self-purifying and intelligent cities in alignment with the “Beautiful China” initiative. She has published more than 100 SCI-indexed papers as first or corresponding author in leading journals, including Nature Communications, Journal of the American Chemical Society, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Advanced Materials, Advanced Energy Materials, Advanced Functional Materials, and Environmental Science & Technology. She serves as an Editorial Board Member in the field of Environmental Chemistry for Chinese Chemical Letters. As a key contributor, she has received several major awards, including the First Prize of the “Industry-University-Research Cooperative Innovation Achievement Award” from the China Association for Promoting Industrial-University-Research Cooperation, the First and Second Prizes of the Shanghai Natural Science Award, and the Third Prize of the Shanghai Science and Technology Progress Award.
    First author contact:

    1 Contributed equally to this work.

  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China(22376142);National Natural Science Foundation of China(22305157);National Natural Science Foundation of China(22022608);National Natural Science Foundation of China(22176127);Shanghai Eastern Talent Plan Leading Project(LJ2024115);Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Green Energy Chemical Engineering(18DZ2254200);“111” Innovation and Talent Recruitment Base on Photochemical and Energy Materials(D18020)

Abstract:

Benefiting from Fermi level equilibration, interfacial band bending, and built-in electric fields, S-scheme heterostructures achieve efficient interfacial charge separation while preserving the robust redox capability of photogenerated charge carriers. This review systematically clarifies the evolutionary logic of heterojunction charge transfer models, spanning from conventional type-II and diverse Z-scheme configurations to advanced S-scheme heterostructures, and elaborates the core interfacial semiconductor physics governing S-scheme systems. A comprehensive overview is provided on the experimental characterization and theoretical verification techniques for identifying S-scheme charge transfer pathways, including density functional theory simulations, Kelvin probe force microscopy, in-situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy, and electron paramagnetic resonance. On this basis, the unique superiority of graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) as a reduction photocatalyst (RP) in S-scheme systems is thoroughly analyzed from the perspectives of thermodynamic band structure, interfacial charge redistribution, layered structural compatibility, and flexible surface modification. Furthermore, this paper summarizes the state-of-the-art advances of g-C3N4-based S-scheme photocatalysts for typical catalytic reactions, including photocatalytic H2 evolution, H2O2 production, photoreductive CO2 conversion, bacterial disinfection, and organic pollutant degradation. Corresponding reaction-oriented structural optimization strategies are also categorized and discussed, involving dimensional matching engineering, active site regulation, homojunction construction, and bifunctional redox coupling design. Finally, the key bottlenecks that restrict the practical application of g-C3N4-based S-scheme photocatalysts are highlighted.

Key words: Photocatalysis, g-C3N4, S-scheme heterojunction, Structure-activity relationship, Applications