Influence of Air and Nitrogen Atmosphere on g-C3N4 Synthesized from Urea

Article Sidebar

PDF
Published: Jun 26, 2022
Keywords:
Visible light Photocatalysis g-C3N4 Ambient air Nitrogen atmosphere

Main Article Content

Atita Tapo
Department of Materials science, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand
Pornapa Sujaridworakun
Department of Materials science, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand
Wasana Khongwong
Expert Centre of Innovative Materials, Thailand Institute of Scientific and Technological Research, Pathum Thani 12120, Thailand
Piyalak Ngernchuklin
Expert Centre of Innovative Materials, Thailand Institute of Scientific and Technological Research, Pathum Thani 12120, Thailand
Chumphol Busabok
Expert Centre of Innovative Materials, Thailand Institute of Scientific and Technological Research, Pathum Thani 12120, Thailand

Abstract

This work attempted to develop g-C3N4 synthesized from urea using for photocatalysis application under visible light. The effects of the heat treatment parameters such as reaction temperatures (450, 500, 550, and 600oC) and controlled atmospherics during synthesis (ambient air and nitrogen) were studied. Urea powders were placed in an alumina boat crucible and put in a tube furnace and then heated up from ambient temperature to 250oC with a heating rate of 10oC/min for 10 min soaking. After that, the temperature was decreased to 220oC and soaked for 10 min followed by increasing the temperature to 450oC-600oC with 2oC/min and soaked for 30 min in ambient air or nitrogen atmosphere. The synthesized powders were characterized for morphology by SEM, phase analysis by XRD, and light absorption by UV-VIS-NIR spectrometer. The photocatalytic properties of synthesized g-C3N4 in ambient air or nitrogen atmosphere were investigated via the degradation of methylene blue under visible light irradiation (more than 450 nm wavelength generated from 50W LED lamp). The yield of products synthesized in the N2 atmosphere was higher than in the ambient air due to less decomposition of urea compared to the ambient air. The band gap energy of g-C3N4 synthesized in N2 was narrower than that synthesized in the ambient air resulting in a wider wavelength absorbed. Moreover, the increasing temperatures lead to reducing of band gap energy of g-C3N4 in the N2 atmosphere.

Article Details

How to Cite
1.
Tapo A, Sujaridworakun P, Khongwong W, Ngernchuklin P, Busabok C. Influence of Air and Nitrogen Atmosphere on g-C3N4 Synthesized from Urea. Thai J. Nanosci. Nanotechnol. [Internet]. 2022 Jun. 26 [cited 2024 Nov. 24];7(1):1-11. Available from: https://ph05.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/TJNN/article/view/77
Issue
Vol. 7 No. 1 (2022): TJNN
Section
Research Articles
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

References

Wen J, Xie J, Chen X, Li X. A review on g-C3 N 4 -based photocatalysts. Appl. Surf. Sci. 2017;391:72-123.

Furukawa JY, Renata MM, Ana LM-J, Thalía SC-G, Vecxi JP-C, Catarina R, et al. Skin impacts from exposure to ultraviolet, visible, infrared, and artificial lights-a review, J. Cosmet. Laser Ther. 2021;23(1-2):1-7.

Zhang J, Sun H. 6 - Carbon nitride photocatalysts. In: Lin Z, Ye M, Wang M, editors. Multifunctional photocatalytic materials for energy: Woodhead Publishing; 2018. p. 103-26.

Li X, Yu J, Low J, Fang Y, Xiaoc J, Chen X. Engineering heterogeneous semiconductors for solar water splitting. J. Mater. Chem. A 2015;3:2485-534.

Niu P, Yin LC, Yang YQ, Liu G, Cheng HM. Increasing the visible light absorption of graphitic carbon nitride (melon) photocatalysts by homogeneous self-modifi cation with nitrogen vacancies. Adv. Mater. 2014;26(47):8046-52.

Kang Y, Yang Y, Yin L-C, Kang X, Liu G, Cheng H-M. An amorphous carbon nitride photocatalyst with greatly extended visible-light-responsive range for photocatalytic hydrogen generation. Adv. Mater. 2015;27(31):4572-7.

Liang Q, Li Z, Huang ZH, Kang F, Yang QH. Holey graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets with carbon vacancies for highly improved photocatalytic hydrogen production. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2015;25(44):6885-92.

Yang P, Zhao J, Qiao W, Li L, Zhu Z. Ammonia-induced robust photocatalytic hydrogen evolution of graphitic carbon nitride. Nanoscale 2015;7(45):18887-90.

Jiménez-CP, Marchal C, Cottineau T, Caps V, Keller V. Influence of the gas atmosphere during the synthesis of g-C3N4 for enhanced photocatalytic H 2 production from water on Au/g-C3N4 composites. J. Mater. Chem. A 2019;7(24):14849-63.

Liu J, Zhang T, Wang Z, Dawson G, Chen W. Simple pyrolysis of urea into graphitic carbon nitride with recyclable adsorption and photocatalytic activity. J. Mater. Chem. 2011;21(38):14398-401.

Cao S, Low J, Yu J, Jaroniec M. Polymeric photocatalysts based on graphitic carbon nitride. Adv. Mater. 2015;27(13):2150-76.

Zheng Y, Zhang Z, Li C. A comparison of graphitic carbon nitrides synthesized from different precursors through pyrolysis. J. Photochem. Photobiol., A 2017;332:32-44.

Saner B, Okyay F, Yürüm Y. Utilization of multiple graphene layers in fuel cells. 1. An improved technique for the exfoliation of graphene-based nanosheets from graphite. Fuel 2010;89(8):1903-10.

Wang X, Maeda K, Thomas A, Takanabe K, Xin G, Carlsson JM, et al. A metal-free polymeric photocatalyst for hydrogen production from water under visible light. Nat. Mater. 2009;8:76-80.

Jiang D, Chen L, Zhu J, Chen M, Shi W, Xie J. Novel p-n heterojunction photocatalyst constructed by porous graphite-like C3N4 and nanostructured BiOI: facile synthesis and enhanced photocatalytic activity. Dalton Trans. 2013;42(44):15726-34.

Zhang Y, Liu J, Wu G, Chen W. Porous graphitic carbon nitride synthesized via direct polymerization of urea for efficient sunlight-driven photocatalytic hydrogen production. Nanoscale 2012;4(17):5300-3.