Synergetic contribution of carbon and oxygen co-doped carbon nitride nanosheets as metal-free photocatalysts for wastewater purification

Abstract

Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) has attracted much scientific interest for photocatalysis, but the low photocatalytic efficiency seriously restricted the further practical application. In this work, C/O co-doped g-C3N4 photocatalyst (C/O–CN) was synthesized by a simple calcination method using urea and proline as the precursors. Experimental results disclosed that the co-doping of C/O into CN framework can induce the synergetic regulating effect, which not only improved the light absorption and narrow band gap, but also promoted the charge transfer. The C/O–CN photocatalysts showed superior photocatalytic performance in degradation rhodamine B (RhB) compared to the pristine CN. Moreover, the optimized degradation RhB parameters were also discussed in depth. This synergetic effect opens a new perspective in design low-cost and efficient bioelement co-doped CN based metal free photocatalyst in environmental purification and energy conversion.