Abstract
Porous C3N4 (PCN) is favored by researchers because it has more surface active sites, higher specific surface area and stronger light absorption ability than traditional g-C3N4. In this study, cerium dioxide nanoparticles (CeO2-NPs) with mixed valence state of Ce3+ and Ce4+ were doped into the PCN framework by a two-step method. The results indicate that CeO2-NPs are highly dispersed in the PCN framework, which leads to a narrower band gap, a wider range of the light response and an improved the separation efficiency of photogenerated charge in PCN. Moreover, the specific surface area (145.69 m2•g-1) of CeO2-NPs doped PCN is a 25.5 % enhancement than that of PCN (116.13 m2•g-1). In the experiment of photocatalytic selective oxidation of benzyl alcohol, CeO2-NPs doped porous C3N4 exhibits excellent photocatalytic activity, especially Ce-PCN-30. The conversion rate of benzyl alcohol reaches 74.9 % using Ce-PCN-30 as photocatalyst by 8 hours of illumination, which is 25.7 % higher than that of pure porous C3N4. Additionally, CeO2-NPs doped porous C3N4 also exhibits better photocatalytic efficiency for other aromatic alcohols.