Effects of thermal exfoliation conditions on the microstructure and photocatalytic performance of g-C3N4 nanosheets
摘要
Ultra-thin g-C3N4 nanosheets (CN-T-t) were successfully prepared via thermally exfoliating bulk g-C3N4 (CN) at different temperatures (T) of 480, 490, 500, 510, 520 ℃, respectively, for 2 h, and at 500 ℃ for different times (t) of 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2h, respectively. The phase composition, microstructure, the photocatalytic degradation property, etc., of CN-T-t samples were studied systematically. The specific surface area of the CN-T-t samples increased with the enhancement of thermal exfoliation temperature and time. The absorption edges of all CN-T-t samples presented blueshift after thermally exfoliating, but their absorption edges were close to each other. Compared with the CN sample, CN-T-t samples exhibited the improved photocatalytic performance. Among them, CN-500-2 (0.1 g) demonstrated the superior photocatalytic properties, which achieved 99.06% removal rate of Rhodamine B (RhB) (10 mg/L, 100 mL) within 30 min of visible light irradiation, with a reaction rate constant 13.9 times greater than that of CN. In addition, CN-500-2 presented excellent recyclability and stability after five cycles of photocatalytic degradation processes, among which h+ and ·O2− were the primary active species.