Acta Phys. -Chim. Sin. ›› 2012, Vol. 28 ›› Issue (10): 2336-2342.doi: 10.3866/PKU.WHXB201209104

• CATALYSIS AND SURFACE SCIENCE • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Modification of Carbon Nitride Photocatalysts by Copolymerization with Diaminomaleonitrile

ZHENG Hua-Rong, ZHANG Jin-Shui, WANG Xin-Chen, FU Xian-Zhi   

  1. Research Institute of Photocatalysis, State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Photocatalysis, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350002, P. R. China
  • Received:2012-08-09 Revised:2012-09-10 Published:2012-09-26
  • Supported by:

    The project was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program,2013CB632405) and National Natural Science Foundation of China(21033003,21173043).

Abstract:

g-C3N4photocatalysts were synthesized by copolymerization of diaminomaleonitrile (DMNA) with dicyanodiamide (DCDA) at high temperatures. The effect of copolymerization on the crystal structure, chemical structure, band structure, texture, optical property and photocatalytic performance of g-C3N4 was studied by such characterization techniques as X-ray diffraction patterns (XRD), Fourier transformed infrared (FT-IR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), nitrogen-sorption (N2-sorption),electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectra (UV-Vis DSR) and photoluminescence (PL) analyses. Results demonstrated that the graphitic-like layer packing structure of g-C3N4 remained unchanged after the modification; however the copolymerization with DMNA can efficiently extend the delocalizationof π-electrons and induce the formation of surface junctions, greatly enhancing the light-harvesting abilityof g-C3N4 in visible light region and promoting the separation of photogenerated charge carriers, respectively. Photocatalytic performance showed that all DMNA-modified samples presented an enhanced H2 evolution activity under visible light irradiation. The optimized weight-in amount of DMNA is found to be 0.01g, by which the modified sample shows the highest hydrogen evolution rate of 45.0 μmol·h-1. This value is 4.5 times as high as that of the unmodified carbon nitride sample.

Key words: Photocatalyst, Solar energy utilization, Hydrogen fuel, Copolymerization, Carbon nitride