Interlayer Electrons Polarization of Asymmetric Metal Nanoclusters/g-C3 N4 for Enhanced Microwave Therapy of Pneumonia

Adv Sci (Weinh). 2023 Jul;10(21):e2301817. doi: 10.1002/advs.202301817. Epub 2023 May 10.

Abstract

Interlayer interactions in two dimensional (2D) materials promote catalytic performance but often depend on the transport of inter rather than intralayer electrons. In this study, it is found that asymmetric metal-nanocluster-doped 2D g-C3 N4 greatly enhances catalytic performance by inducing microwave excitation of interlayer electron delocalization, resulting in a polarization of interlaminar charge transport for microwave disinfection and pneumonia therapy. Asymmetric Fe and Cu nanocluster doping (DCN-FeCu) enables g-C3 N4 to generate interlayer electrons under microwave irradiation, leading to interlayer polarization processes and electron delocalization effects, thus enhancing the interlayer migration efficiency of electrons. It also improves impurity energy levels and leads to a decrease in work function, allowing DCN-FeCu to produce microwave carriers across the photoelectric potential barrier under low-energy microwave radiation (2.45 GHz). This asymmetric doping modulation produces layer number-dependent microwave electron excitations that are verified using multi-metal doping. Therefore, structurally modulated asymmetric doping of 2D materials with interfacial spatial effects can provide efficient microwave disinfection and pneumonia therapy.

Keywords: g-C3N4; interlayer electron; microwave disinfection; nanoclusters doping; pneumonia therapy.