Oxygen and methyl co-modified carbon nitride for enhanced photocatalytic dagradation
Abstract Carbon nitride (C3N4) is a promising photocatalytic material to degrade various pollutants. However, the degradation activity is restricted by the limited light absorption and fast recombination of photoinduced carriers. Herein, a structure modification strategy by introducing a functional reagent during the polymerization process was adopted. The structure, composition and morphology of prepared materials were investigated by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Benefiting from the implantation of oxygen and methyl groups in triazine unit of C3N4, enhanced light absorption and effective carrier separation are achieved. As a result, the modified C3N4 exhibits a significant enhanced degradation activity and the optimal rate constant of modified C3N4 for Acid Red 9 degradation is 5.83 times that of pristine C3N4. The work demonstrates the effect of structure modification in C3N4 for enhancing degradation activity.