Novel Two-Stage Method of Preparing Graphitic Carbon Nitride Doped by Chlorine for Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution and Photocurrent Generation

Abstract

In this work graphitic carbon nitride doped by chlorine was prepared by a two-stage technique at first. At the first stage melamine was hydrothermally treated with glucose, at the second stage the mixture of as-prepared melamine with ammonium chloride was calcined. The obtained samples were investigated by the set of methods: X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, photoelectrochemical methods. All prepared photocatalysts was tested in the reaction of photocatalytic hydrogen production from basic solutions of triethanolamine. It was shown that the highest values of the catalytic activity and short-circuit current density were obtained over the photocatalyst preparing by calcination of the mixture containing 30% ammonium chloride and 70% melamine. The highest value of the catalytic activity was 1332 μmol h–1 g–1 and was more than the catalytic activity of carbon nitride preparing by the melamine calcination without another treatment in 22 times.