Persulfate-Induced Three Coordinate Nitrogen (N3C) Vacancies in Defective Carbon Nitride for Enhanced Photocatalytic H2O2 Evolution
Wei Miao,
Yijie Wang,
Ying Liu,
Hehe Qin,
Chengcheng Chu,
Shun Mao
Affiliations
Wei Miao
College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Biomedical Multidisciplinary Innovation Research Institute, Shanghai East Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China; Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, Shanghai 200092, China
Yijie Wang
College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Biomedical Multidisciplinary Innovation Research Institute, Shanghai East Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China; Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, Shanghai 200092, China
Ying Liu
College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Biomedical Multidisciplinary Innovation Research Institute, Shanghai East Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China; Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, Shanghai 200092, China
Hehe Qin
College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Biomedical Multidisciplinary Innovation Research Institute, Shanghai East Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China; Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, Shanghai 200092, China
Chengcheng Chu
College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Biomedical Multidisciplinary Innovation Research Institute, Shanghai East Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China; Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, Shanghai 200092, China
Shun Mao
College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Biomedical Multidisciplinary Innovation Research Institute, Shanghai East Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China; Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, Shanghai 200092, China; Corresponding author.
In-situ photocatalytic H2O2 production has been receiving increasing attention in recent years for sustainable H2O2 synthesis. Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) is regarded as one of the most promising semiconductor photocatalysts for H2O2 evolution. Introducing N defects in g-C3N4 has been proved to be an effective strategy to enhance photocatalytic activity. However, the photocatalytic mechanism of the N vacancies is ambiguous and different types of N vacancies in g-C3N4 may exhibit different effects on photocatalytic activity. Herein, we develop a facile sodium persulfate eutectic polymerization method to prepare the g-C3N4 with abundant three coordinate nitrogen (N3C) vacancies. This type of nitrogen vacancy has not been studied in g-C3N4 for photocatalytic H2O2 production. Our results show that the introduction of N3C vacancies in the g-C3N4 successfully broadens the light absorption range, and inhibits the photoexcited charge recombination with enhanced O2 adsorption to promote oxygen activation. The photocatalytic H2O2 evolution from the N3C-rich g-C3N4 is 4.5 times higher than that of the pristine g-C3N4. This study demonstrates a novel strategy to introduce N3C vacancies in g-C3N4, which offers a new method to develop active catalysts for photocatalytic H2O2 evolution.
