Issue 3, 2015

Heterojunction engineering of graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) via Pt loading with improved daylight-induced photocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide to methane

Abstract

In this paper, noble-metal Pt nanoparticles of around 2.5 nm were deposited on graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) synthesized by a chemical reduction process in ethylene glycol. Compared with pure g-C3N4, the resulting Pt-loaded g-C3N4 (Pt/CN) exhibited a considerable improvement in the photoreduction of CO2 to CH4 in the presence of water vapor at ambient temperature and atmospheric pressure under visible light irradiation. 2 wt% Pt-loaded g-C3N4 (2Pt/CN) nanocomposites produced the highest CH4 yield of 13.02 μmol gcatalyst−1 after 10 h of light irradiation, which was a 5.1-fold enhancement in comparison with pure g-C3N4 (2.55 μmol gcatalyst−1). The remarkable photocatalytic activity of Pt/CN nanostructures in the CH4 production was ascribed to the enhanced visible light absorption and efficient interfacial transfer of photogenerated electrons from g-C3N4 to Pt due to the lower Fermi level of Pt in the Pt/CN hybrid heterojunctions as evidenced by the UV-Vis and photoluminescence studies. The enriched electron density on Pt favored the reduction of CO2 to CH4via a multi-electron transfer process. This resulted in the inhibition of electron–hole pair recombination for effective spatial charge separation, thus enhancing the photocatalytic reactions. Based on the experimental results obtained, a plausible mechanism for improved photocatalytic performance associated with Pt/CN was proposed.

Graphical abstract: Heterojunction engineering of graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) via Pt loading with improved daylight-induced photocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide to methane

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
24 Sep 2014
Accepted
06 Nov 2014
First published
07 Nov 2014

Dalton Trans., 2015,44, 1249-1257

Heterojunction engineering of graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) via Pt loading with improved daylight-induced photocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide to methane

W. Ong, L. Tan, S. Chai and S. Yong, Dalton Trans., 2015, 44, 1249 DOI: 10.1039/C4DT02940B

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