ZnGaNO Photocatalyst Particles Prepared from Methane-Based Nitridation Using Zn/Ga/CO3 LDH as Precursor

Yan-Ling Hu; Shuhua Ou; Jialiang Huang; Huayu Ji; Siwan Xiang; Yuqin Zhu; Zhibang Chen; Cheng Gong; Lan Sun; Jiqiong Lian; Dongya Sun; Yongsheng Fu; Tongmei Ma

doi:10.1021/acs.inorgchem.8b01415

ZnGaNO Photocatalyst Particles Prepared from Methane-Based Nitridation Using Zn/Ga/CO₃ LDH as Precursor

Inorg Chem. 2018 Aug 6;57(15):9412-9424. doi: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.8b01415. Epub 2018 Jul 20.

Authors

Yan-Ling Hu¹, Shuhua Ou², Jialiang Huang¹, Huayu Ji¹, Siwan Xiang³, Yuqin Zhu¹, Zhibang Chen², Cheng Gong³, Lan Sun³, Jiqiong Lian¹, Dongya Sun¹, Yongsheng Fu⁴, Tongmei Ma²

Affiliations

¹ Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Functional Materials and Applications, School of Materials Science and Engineering , Xiamen University of Technology , Xiamen , 361024 , P. R. China.
² School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Guangdong Provincial Key Lab of Green Chemical Product Technology , South China University of Technology , 381 Wushan Road, Tianhe District , Guangzhou 510641 , P. R. China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces , Xiamen University , Xiamen , 361005 , P. R. China.
⁴ Key Laboratory for Soft Chemistry and Functional Materials , Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Ministry of Education , Nanjing , 210094 , P. R. China.

PMID: 30028597
DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.8b01415

Abstract

Methane-based nitridation was employed to produce wurtzite zinc-gallium oxynitride (ZnGaNO) photocatalyst particles using Zn/Ga/CO₃ layered double hydroxides (LDHs) as precursor. Introduction of methane to nitridation would promote the formation of Zn-O bonding and suppress shallow acceptor complexes such as V_(Zn)-Ga_(Zn) and Ga-O_i in ZnGaNO particles. On the other hand, high flow rate of methane would induce breaking of Ga-N bonding and enhance surface deposition of metallic Ga atoms. After loading with Rh and RuO₂, ZnGaNO particles had free electron density in an order of S50 > S20 > S90 > S0, which correlated well with their photocatalytic performance upon visible-light irradiation. The best performance of the loaded S50 was ascribed to the relatively flat surface band bending of the particle. Methane-based nitridation of Zn/Ga/CO₃ LDHs would provide a new route to tune the surface chemistry of ZnGaNO and enhance the photocatalytic performance to its full potential.