Synthesis of synergetic phosphorus and cyano groups ( C N) modified g-C3N4 for enhanced photocatalytic H2 production and CO2 reduction under visible light irradiation

By Xiaolei Liu, Peng Wang, Huishan Zhai, Zhang Qianqian, Baibiao Huang, Zeyan Wang, Yuanyuan Liu, Ying Dai, Xiaoyan Qin, Xiaoyang Zhang. Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, 2018

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Abstract Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) has become an attractive photocatalyst for solar energy conversion owing to its numerous advantages. Due to insufficient solar-light absorption and fast photogenerated carriers recombination, the photocatalytic activity of traditional g-C3N4 material is unsatisfactory. In this work, P element and cyano groups ( C N) incorporated into the g-C3N4 framework is successfully fabricated by heat treatment of the mixed g-C3N4 and NaH2PO2. The cyano groups ( C N) originated from the de-protonation of C NH2 can enhance the light absorption and act as strong electron-withdrawing groups, which can promote the efficient separation of photo-generated electron-hole pairs. The P element doping can enhance the visible light absorption, shorten the band gap and suppress the recombination of photo-induced carriers. The synergistic effect of C N functional groups and P element doping results in a 6.7 times enhanced photocatalytic H2 production activity and 1.58 times enhanced photocatalytic CO2 reduction activity than that of pristine g-C3N4. Experimental analysis indicates that the enhanced photocatalytic performance is mainly attributed to the enhanced light absorption and charge separation. Our work provides a new thought to design other high performance and low-cost g-C3N4-based photocatalytic materials for solar energy conversion.

Subfields: Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Materials Chemistry, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/cc332de8d041d76e2d2584672f568895ae041385