Ti3C2 MXene modified g-C3N4 with enhanced visible-light photocatalytic performance for NO purification

Junlian Li; Qian Zhang; Yanzhao Zou; Yuehan Cao; Wen Cui; Fan Dong; Ying Zhou

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2020.04.119

Ti₃C₂ MXene modified g-C₃N₄ with enhanced visible-light photocatalytic performance for NO purification

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2020 Sep 1:575:443-451. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2020.04.119. Epub 2020 May 1.

Authors

Junlian Li¹, Qian Zhang², Yanzhao Zou², Yuehan Cao², Wen Cui², Fan Dong³, Ying Zhou⁴

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu 610500, China; The Center of New Energy Materials and Technology, School of New Energy and Materials, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu 610500, China.
² The Center of New Energy Materials and Technology, School of New Energy and Materials, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu 610500, China.
³ Research Center for Environmental Science & Technology, Institute of Fundamental and Frontier Sciences, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 611731, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu 610500, China; The Center of New Energy Materials and Technology, School of New Energy and Materials, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu 610500, China. Electronic address: yzhou@swpu.edu.cn.

PMID: 32388290
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2020.04.119

Abstract

As for photocatalytic oxidation of nitric oxide (NO), the low NO oxidation activity and generation of by-products (cf. NO₂) are the urgent challenge. To tackle these issues, a simple in-situ growing stragegy was employed to constructe Ti₃C₂/g-C₃N₄ system. The fabricated Ti₃C₂/g-C₃N₄ composite (TC-CN) presented enhanced photocatalytic NO removal efficiency and inhibited toxic NO₂ generation. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations and experimental characterizations were combined to demonstrate the presence of strong interface effect between Ti₃C₂ and g-C₃N₄, which could greatly improve photo-generated charge carrier separation via the construction of electron transfer channels, and further activate oxygen molecules adsorbed on the side of Ti₃C₂ layer. As a result, nitrite and nitrate instead of NO₂ were the final products during the photocatalytic reaction process through the monitoring by in situ diffuse reflectance infrared spectroscopy (DRIFTS).

Keywords: Charge separation; NO oxidation; NO(2) inhibition; Ti(3)C(2) MXene; g-C(3)N(4).