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以太阳能为基础利用光催化技术在温和反应条件下进行清洁能源转化和环境污染物净化对人类社会可持续发展具有重要意义. 绿色高效光催化剂作为光催化反应的核心始终是科研工作者首先需要解决的问题. 石墨相氮化碳(g-C3N4)作为典型非金属聚合物材料,因其结构稳定、合成简单、具有可见光吸收等优点已逐步成为新一代光催化剂的典型代表[1-3].
空心球结构在半导体光催化反应体系格外引人注意,因其结构稳定,可将其他功能性基团集成在球体内外形成复杂的纳米结构,同时也可以“笼”形方式在球体内部进行一系列反应形成特殊的核壳结构[4-7]. 2012年,Wang等以多孔二氧化硅球为模板制备出氮化碳空心球,具有显著增强的光解水制氢性能[8]. 自此,以牺牲模板法制备氮化碳空心球成为主要方法[9]. 然而,受限于高温热聚合过程中聚合物中空纳米结构容易发生塌陷和扭曲,限制了空心球聚合物半导体的有效结构调控. 溶剂热技术可以通过分子工程实现溶液中分子自组装进行产物结构和形貌的有效调控[10]. 本课题组前期研究结果表明,可以在较低的温度下通过直接溶剂热法制备氮化碳空心球,且通过调控合成参数可实现氮化碳空心球的光催化性能优化[11]. 但低温合成产物聚合度较低,限制了光生电荷在长程范围内的有效传输,因此其光催化性能还有待进一步提升.
分子共聚合改性是优化g-C3N4电子结构和光学性质的有效方法. 含芳环小分子化合物与g-C3N4共聚可构造给体-受体结构,增强特征sp2杂化π电子离域. 例如,将巴比妥酸、2-氨基苄腈等共轭分子嵌入g-C3N4骨架有助于提高产物光催化性能[12]. 与等电子体系的六元芳环相比,五元杂环化合物为富电子体系,共聚g-C3N4不仅影响半导体的电子结构和光学性质,还可以调控其氧化还原电位.
含S噻吩基团为典型的发色基团且具有强大的给电子能力,是优化半导体聚合物光电性能的有效基团,可在半导体内构建分子内电子给体,同时在费米能级上形成半占据杂质能级,降低半导体带隙[13]. 理论研究表明,噻吩基团修饰g-C3N4可引起光诱导电子的有效质量降低,光诱导电子-空穴的迁移率差异增大,从而降低电子-空穴复合率,同时修饰后产物结构畸变,可提高n-π*电子跃迁活性[14]. 截止目前,关于噻吩修饰g-C3N4的工作主要集中于高温热解共聚以及产物在光解水方面的应用,而针对低温合成条件下以含特殊基团分子为共聚体合成特定形貌的g-C3N4及其对光催化性能的影响研究工作还鲜少报道. 鉴于此,本工作以2-氨基噻吩-3甲腈(TPCN)为共聚合单体,一步溶剂热反应成功将噻吩环结构嵌入g-C3N4骨架中,制备出一系列具有宽可见光响应的氮化碳空心球(CNS). 采用多种表征技术对催化剂结构、组成、光电性质等进行分析,通过光催化还原水中Cr6+、光解水制氢以及降解甲基橙考察了催化剂的活性,并推测了相应的光催化反应机理,为低温合成高效g-C3N4基光催化剂提供实验基础.
噻吩环修饰氮化碳空心球的制备及其可见光催化性能
Preparation and Photocatalytic performance of thiophene-ring modified carbon nitride hollow spheres
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摘要: 以噻吩基团分子为聚合单体,低温溶剂热法一步合成噻吩环修饰的氮化碳空心球光催化剂. 采用XRD、SEM、XPS、UV-Vis DRS、PL等测试方法对催化剂的结构、形貌、光电响应等进行了表征. 结果表明,适量的噻吩环嵌入氮化碳骨架不影响产物空心球形貌,尽管降低了长程聚合度,但增加了球体表面缺陷,拓展了可见光吸收范围,缩小了带隙宽度,增强了光生电荷的产生密度并有效抑制了光生电子-空穴的复合,显著增强了光催化反应性能. 通过光催化还原水中Cr6+、光解水制氢和降解甲基橙的测试表明,噻吩环修饰后的CNS-2具有显著增强的光催化活性,其反应速率分别是未修饰氮化碳CN的2.5、3.8、1.6倍. 而光生e−和间接生成的
$\cdot {\rm{O}}_2^- $ 分别是发生还原和氧化反应的主要活性物种.Abstract: Thiophene-ring modified carbon nitride hollow sphere photocatalysts (CNS) were synthesized by one-step low-temperature solvothermal method using thiophene group-containing molecules as monomers. The structure, morphology and optoelectronic properties of the catalysts were characterized by XRD, SEM, XPS, UV-Vis DRS, PL and others. The results show that appropriate amount of thiophene-rings embedded in the carbon nitride framework does not affect the hollow spherical morphology of the products, the long-range polymerization degrees of them are reduced, but it increases the surface defects of the spheres, expands the visible light absorption range, narrows the band gap, enhances the generation density of photogenerated charges and effectively inhibits the recombination of photogenerated electron-holes, therefore enhances the photocatalytic performances significantly. The photocatalytic reduction of Cr6+ in aqueous solution, water splitting for hydrogen production, and methyl orange degradation tests show that CNS-2 modified by thiophene-ring performs much enhanced photocatalytic activity, and its reaction rate was 2.5, 3.8 and 1.6 times that of unmodified carbon nitride (CN), respectively. Pphotogenerated e− and indirectly generated$\cdot {\rm{O}}_2^- $ are the main active species for reduction and oxidation reactions, respectively.-
Key words:
- carbon nitride /
- hollow sphere /
- thiophene-ring /
- photocatalysis.
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图 8 不同催化剂在可见光下对Cr6+的光催化还原曲线(a)、动力学拟合曲线(b)、催化剂CNS-2在不同pH条件下对Cr6+的光催化还原曲线(c)和催化剂可见分解水制氢活性(d)
Figure 8. Photocatalytic reduction curves (a), kinetic fitting curves (b) of Cr6+ by different catalysts under visible light, Photocatalytic reduction of Cr6+ by CNS-2 at different pH (c) and H2 evolution activity by visible light water splitting by catalysts (d)
图 9 不同催化剂在可见光下对MO的光催化降解曲线(a)、动力学拟合曲线(b)、催化剂CNS-2对MO的光催化降解活性曲线(c)、CN和CNS-2对MO降解活性稳定性(d)
Figure 9. Photocatalytic degradation curves (a), kinetic fitting curves (b) of MO by different catalysts under visible light, Photocatalytic degradation of MO by CNS-2 (c), degradation activity stability of MO by CN and CNS-2 (d)
表 1 样品合成原料比例
Table 1. Raw materials ratio for samples synthesis
样品
SampleCC/mmol DCDA/mmol TPCN/mmol CN 10 7.5 0 CNS-1 10 7 1 CNS-2 10 6.5 2 CNS-3 10 6 3 CNS-4 10 5.5 4 CNS-5 10 5 5 -
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