Nitrogen vacancies and metal-free group intercalation on carbon nitride for super photocatalytic performance

• Published in: International journal of hydrogen energy 2022-06, Vol.47 (47), p.20540-20545
• Main Authors: Wu, Guangyu, Liu, Chaoke, Shao, Weifan, Wang, Yun, Zhang, Yichi, Chen, Yuwen, Zhang, Ziran, Han, Jiangang, Xing, Weinan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Dye degradation; Hydrogen evolution; Metal-free group-intercalated g-C3N4; Nitrogen vacancies; Photocatalyst
• ISSN: 0360-3199; 1879-3487
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2022.04.117

Here, a dual regulation strategy to construct nitrogen vacancies-modified and metal-free group-intercalated g-C3N4 (NP–CN) photocatalyst is proposed. The nitrogen vacancies in the planes of NP-CN could adjust the band-gap of CN, while the metal-free group intercalated between layers act as electron transport channels for fast charge carrier separation. The nitrogen vacancies as well as metal-free group intercalate significantly increase the photocatalytic performance in H2 evolution and dye degradation. The photocatalytic H2 evolution rate and apparent first-order rate constant for RhB removal of NP-CN24 is 22 and 7.3 times higher than that CN, respectively. This work provides a facile approach to design and synthesize new modification of CN photocatalyst via nitrogen vacancies and metal-free group intercalation to simultaneously improve the activity in the photocatalytic application field. •Nitrogen vacancies-modified and metal-free group-intercalated g-C3N4 (NP–CN) is prepared.•NP-CN shows high activity and stability in photocatalytic H2 evolution and dye degradation.•The photocatalytic H2 evolution activity of NP-CN is 22 time that of the pristine g-C3N4.