Molecular assembly of carbon nitride-based composite membranes for photocatalytic sterilization and wound healing

Xiaoxiao Peng; Jin Ma; Zhixin Zhou; Hong Yang; Jingjing Chen; Ran Chen; Kaiqing Wu; Guangcheng Xi; Songqin Liu; Yanfei Shen; Yuanjian Zhang

doi:10.1039/D3SC00642E

Molecular assembly of carbon nitride-based composite membranes for photocatalytic sterilization and wound healing†

Xiaoxiao Peng,‡^a Jin Ma,

‡^a Zhixin Zhou,^a Hong Yang,^a Jingjing Chen,^a Ran Chen,

^a Kaiqing Wu,^a Guangcheng Xi,

^c Songqin Liu,

^a Yanfei Shen

*^b and Yuanjian Zhang

*^a

Author affiliations

* Corresponding authors

^a Jiangsu Engineering Laboratory of Smart Carbon-Rich Materials and Device, Jiangsu Province Hi-Tech Key Laboratory for Bio-Medical Research, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
E-mail: Yuanjian.Zhang@seu.edu.cn

^b Medical School, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
E-mail: Yanfei.Shen@seu.edu.cn

^c Institute of Industrial and Consumer Product Safety, Chinese Academy of Inspection and Quarantine, Beijing, China

Abstract

Polymeric carbon nitride (pCN) has attracted increasing interest as a metal-free photocatalyst because of its high efficiency in reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation. However, due to poor solubility, compounding pCN at the molecular level into more advanced nanocomposites remains a challenge. Herein, we report the dissolution of pCN in polyphosphoric acid (PPA) for the first time and fluid-phase assembly with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) into a flexible free-standing membrane. Mechanism and generality studies disclosed that the coordination of the acidity, viscosity, and adsorption energy of the solvents led to the successful dissolution of pCN. Interestingly, the pCN/CNTs molecular composite membrane exhibited not only superior mechanical properties and cycling performance as a result of strengthened π–π interfacial interaction, but also outstanding inactivation of E. coli and S. aureus in sterilization and wound healing for laboratory mice via photogenerated oxygen radicals. It would open a new era of pCN for biomedical applications in molecular composite membranes, beyond the traditional solar fuel applications in powders.

This article is part of the themed collection: 2023 Chemical Science HOT Article Collection

Chemical Science

Molecular assembly of carbon nitride-based composite membranes for photocatalytic sterilization and wound healing†

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Molecular assembly of carbon nitride-based composite membranes for photocatalytic sterilization and wound healing

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