Synergistic effects of MoFe bimetallic carbon dots for enhanced photocatalytic nitrogen fixation

Abstract

The fixation of nitrogen to ammonia by photocatalysis displays great prospects. To this end, designing efficient catalysts is vital. As a type of graphitic carbon nitride, g-C3N5 is rich in N atoms, which endows it with a superior energy band structure. To compensate for the lack of active sites and the fast recombination of photogenerated carriers, we constructed MoFe bimetallic carbon dots loaded g-C3N5, with an NH3 yield of 812.9 μmol h−1 gcat−1. The introduction of metal carbon dots facilitates charge transfer. Through further study, it was found that Fe sites are mainly responsible for activating nitrogen, while Mo sites tend to split water to produce protons. Bimetallic carbon dots showed a synergistic effect on the enhancement of nitrogen fixation performance. This work offers some insights for the construction of efficient nitrogen fixation catalysts with novel carbon dots types of active centers.