Synthesis of crystalline carbon nitride with enhanced photocatalytic NO removal performance: An experimental and DFT theoretical study

doi:10.1016/j.jmst.2020.12.048

Abstract

Abstract:

The pristine carbon nitride derived from the thermally-induced polymerization of nitrogen-containing precursors (e.g. cyanamide, dicyanamide, melamine and urea) displays low crystallinity because of the predominantly kinetic hindrance. Herein, we reported a modified molten-salts method to fabricate the crystalline carbon nitride under ambient pressure, which is expected to the large-scale production of crystalline carbon nitride. The obtained crystalline carbon nitride displayed about 3.0 times higher photocatalytic NO removal performance than that of pristine carbon nitride under visible light irradiation (λ < 400 nm). Detailed experimental characterization and theoretical calculation revealed the crucial roles of crystallinity in crystalline carbon nitride for the enhanced photocatalytic NO removal performance. This research provided deep insights into the crystallinity of carbon nitride for the enhanced photocatalytic performance.

Key words: Carbon nitride, Crystallinity, Molten-salts method, Photocatalytic NO removal, DFT

Zhanyong Gu, Zhitao Cui, Zijing Wang, Tingru Chen, Peng Sun, Dawei Wen. Synthesis of crystalline carbon nitride with enhanced photocatalytic NO removal performance: An experimental and DFT theoretical study[J]. J. Mater. Sci. Technol., 2021, 83: 113-122.

Figures/Tables 10

Fig. 1. Schematic illustration for the preparation of CCN via a modified molten-salts method.

Fig. 2. (a) Normalized patterns of PCN and CCN, (b) corresponding enlarged XRD patterns in the range of 24°-32°; SAED images of PCN (c) and CCN(d).

Fig. 3. (a) XPS spectra of survey for PCN and CCN, (b) XPS spectra of K 2p for CCN, (c) C 1s and (d) N 1s of spectra for PCN and CCN, respectively.

Fig. 4. (a) UV-vis DRS; (b) Tauc plots for the band gap calculation; (c) VB-XPS spectra, and (d) Energy band structures of PCN and CCN, respectively.

Fig. 5. The optimized configuration of CCN (a) and PCN (b). C, N and H atoms were represented by the dark, blue and red balls, respectively. The energy band structures and corresponding calculated DOS of (c) CCN and (d) PCN. The Fermi level is taken as zero.

Fig. 6. (a) Steady-state photoluminescence spectra; (b) time-resolved photoluminescence spectra PCN and CCN, respectively.

Fig. 7. (a, b) HOMO and (c, d) LUMO of CCN and PCN, respectively.

Fig. 8. (a) Photocatalytic performance of PCN and CCN under visible light irradiation(λ > 400 nm), (b) cycling stability test of CCN photocatalyst.

Fig. 9. (a, b) The optimized configurations of NO and O2 molecules adsorbed on CCN; (c, d) the optimized configurations of NO and O2 molecules adsorbed on PCN.

Fig. 10. Proposed mechanism for the crucial role of crystallinity in the photocatalytic NO removal process.

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