1 research outputs found
Tuning the Photocatalytic Activity of Graphitic Carbon Nitride by Plasma-Based Surface Modification
In
this study, we demonstrate that plasma treatment can be a facile and
environmentally friendly approach to perform surface modification
of graphitic carbon nitride (g-CN), leading to a remarkable modulation
on its photocatalytic activity. The bulk properties of g-CN, including
the particle size, structure, composition, and electronic band structures,
have no changes after being treated by oxygen or nitrogen plasma;
however, its surface composition and specific surface area exhibit
remarkable differences corresponding to an oxygen functionalization
induced by the plasma post-treatment. The introduced oxygen functional
groups play a key role in reducing the recombination rate of the photoexcited
charge carries. As a consequence, the oxygen-plasma-treated sample
shows a much superior photocatalytic activity, which is about 4.2
times higher than that of the pristine g-CN for the degradation of
rhodamine B (RhB) under visible light irradiation, while the activity
of nitrogen-plasma-treated sample exhibits a slight decrease. Furthermore,
both of the plasma-treated samples are found to possess impressive
photocatalytic stabilities. Our results suggest that plasma treatment
could be a conventional strategy to perform surface modification of
g-CN in forms of both powders and thin films, which holds broad interest
not only for developing g-CN-based high-performance photocatalysts
but also for constructing photoelectrochemical cells and photoelectronic
devices with improved energy conversion efficiencies