Plasma-treatment of polymeric carbon nitride for efficient NO abatement under visible light

Qimiao Zeng; Jiupai Ni; Davide Mariotti; Lanying Lu; Hong Chen; Chengsheng Ni

doi:10.1088/1361-6463/ac782d

Plasma-treatment of polymeric carbon nitride for efficient NO abatement under visible light

Qimiao Zeng
, Jiupai Ni
, Davide Mariotti
, Lanying Lu
, Hong Chen
, Chengsheng Ni

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)

163 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Photocatalysis is considered to be efficient in combatting emission nitrogen oxide (NO x ), which is one of the atmospheric pollutants affecting human health. Polymeric carbon nitride (PCN) is a low-cost polymeric photocatalyst with a two-dimensional structure that is sensitive to the visible sunlight in the solar spectrum, but its photocatalytic efficiency needs to be enhanced for the purpose of pollutant abatement. In this study, PCN was treated using a facile ambient pressure dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma in air, Ar and Ar-5% H2 flow. According to the spectroscopic characterization and NO removal tests, the DBD plasma did not destroy the crystal structure of PCN, but improved the separation efficiency of photogenerated charges and enhanced the capacity of NO abatement. The plasma treatment in Ar-5% H2 showed an optimal removal efficiency of 69.19% and a selectivity for nitrate of 90.51% under visible light irradiation. The hydrogen plasma etched the PCN surface, resulting in more defects (carbon vacancies) and carbonyl group on the surface, while the air plasma was found to increase the suspending –NO x bonding on the surface for the increased NO x emission under illumination. The generation of high-energy electron and reactive radicals in the electrical discharges could cause the surface modification of PCN for efficient photocatalysis.

Original language	English
Article number	354003
Number of pages	13
Journal	Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics
Volume	55
Issue number	35
Early online date	22 Jun 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6463/ac782d
Publication status	Published online - 22 Jun 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by Chongqing Science and Technology Committee of China (cstc2021ycjh-bgzxm0162), research funding for central universities of China (SWURC2020002), and EPSRC of UK (EP/R023638/1; EP/M015211/1 and EP/K022237/1). Funding from Chongqing Technology and Business University Scientific Research Project (1956017) and the Science and Technology Research Program of Chongqing Municipal Education Commission (Grant No. KJQN201900843) is also acknowledged. Chengsheng Ni also would express gratitude to the award of Chongqing Bayu Young Scholar from Chongqing Teaching Committee and Funding for Oversea Returnees.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 IOP Publishing Ltd.

Funding

Funding Information: This work was supported by Chongqing Science and Technology Committee of China (cstc2021ycjh-bgzxm0162), research funding for central universities of China (SWURC2020002), and EPSRC of UK (EP/R023638/1; EP/M015211/1 and EP/K022237/1). Funding from Chongqing Technology and Business University Scientific Research Project (1956017) and the Science and Technology Research Program of Chongqing Municipal Education Commission (Grant No. KJQN201900843) is also acknowledged. Chengsheng Ni also would express gratitude to the award of Chongqing Bayu Young Scholar from Chongqing Teaching Committee and Funding for Oversea Returnees. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 IOP Publishing Ltd.

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being

Keywords

DBD plasma
NO removal
polymeric carbon nitride
visible light photocatalysis

Access to Document

10.1088/1361-6463/ac782d

g-C3N4 plasma 20220527 cleanAuthor Accepted Manuscript, 2.89 MB

Cite this

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title = "Plasma-treatment of polymeric carbon nitride for efficient NO abatement under visible light",

abstract = "Photocatalysis is considered to be efficient in combatting emission nitrogen oxide (NO x ), which is one of the atmospheric pollutants affecting human health. Polymeric carbon nitride (PCN) is a low-cost polymeric photocatalyst with a two-dimensional structure that is sensitive to the visible sunlight in the solar spectrum, but its photocatalytic efficiency needs to be enhanced for the purpose of pollutant abatement. In this study, PCN was treated using a facile ambient pressure dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma in air, Ar and Ar-5\% H2 flow. According to the spectroscopic characterization and NO removal tests, the DBD plasma did not destroy the crystal structure of PCN, but improved the separation efficiency of photogenerated charges and enhanced the capacity of NO abatement. The plasma treatment in Ar-5\% H2 showed an optimal removal efficiency of 69.19\% and a selectivity for nitrate of 90.51\% under visible light irradiation. The hydrogen plasma etched the PCN surface, resulting in more defects (carbon vacancies) and carbonyl group on the surface, while the air plasma was found to increase the suspending –NO x bonding on the surface for the increased NO x emission under illumination. The generation of high-energy electron and reactive radicals in the electrical discharges could cause the surface modification of PCN for efficient photocatalysis.",

keywords = "DBD plasma, NO removal, polymeric carbon nitride, visible light photocatalysis",

author = "Qimiao Zeng and Jiupai Ni and Davide Mariotti and Lanying Lu and Hong Chen and Chengsheng Ni",

note = "Funding Information: This work was supported by Chongqing Science and Technology Committee of China (cstc2021ycjh-bgzxm0162), research funding for central universities of China (SWURC2020002), and EPSRC of UK (EP/R023638/1; EP/M015211/1 and EP/K022237/1). Funding from Chongqing Technology and Business University Scientific Research Project (1956017) and the Science and Technology Research Program of Chongqing Municipal Education Commission (Grant No. KJQN201900843) is also acknowledged. Chengsheng Ni also would express gratitude to the award of Chongqing Bayu Young Scholar from Chongqing Teaching Committee and Funding for Oversea Returnees. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 IOP Publishing Ltd.",

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AU - Zeng, Qimiao

AU - Ni, Jiupai

AU - Mariotti, Davide

AU - Lu, Lanying

AU - Chen, Hong

AU - Ni, Chengsheng

N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported by Chongqing Science and Technology Committee of China (cstc2021ycjh-bgzxm0162), research funding for central universities of China (SWURC2020002), and EPSRC of UK (EP/R023638/1; EP/M015211/1 and EP/K022237/1). Funding from Chongqing Technology and Business University Scientific Research Project (1956017) and the Science and Technology Research Program of Chongqing Municipal Education Commission (Grant No. KJQN201900843) is also acknowledged. Chengsheng Ni also would express gratitude to the award of Chongqing Bayu Young Scholar from Chongqing Teaching Committee and Funding for Oversea Returnees. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 IOP Publishing Ltd.

PY - 2022/6/22

Y1 - 2022/6/22

N2 - Photocatalysis is considered to be efficient in combatting emission nitrogen oxide (NO x ), which is one of the atmospheric pollutants affecting human health. Polymeric carbon nitride (PCN) is a low-cost polymeric photocatalyst with a two-dimensional structure that is sensitive to the visible sunlight in the solar spectrum, but its photocatalytic efficiency needs to be enhanced for the purpose of pollutant abatement. In this study, PCN was treated using a facile ambient pressure dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma in air, Ar and Ar-5% H2 flow. According to the spectroscopic characterization and NO removal tests, the DBD plasma did not destroy the crystal structure of PCN, but improved the separation efficiency of photogenerated charges and enhanced the capacity of NO abatement. The plasma treatment in Ar-5% H2 showed an optimal removal efficiency of 69.19% and a selectivity for nitrate of 90.51% under visible light irradiation. The hydrogen plasma etched the PCN surface, resulting in more defects (carbon vacancies) and carbonyl group on the surface, while the air plasma was found to increase the suspending –NO x bonding on the surface for the increased NO x emission under illumination. The generation of high-energy electron and reactive radicals in the electrical discharges could cause the surface modification of PCN for efficient photocatalysis.

AB - Photocatalysis is considered to be efficient in combatting emission nitrogen oxide (NO x ), which is one of the atmospheric pollutants affecting human health. Polymeric carbon nitride (PCN) is a low-cost polymeric photocatalyst with a two-dimensional structure that is sensitive to the visible sunlight in the solar spectrum, but its photocatalytic efficiency needs to be enhanced for the purpose of pollutant abatement. In this study, PCN was treated using a facile ambient pressure dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma in air, Ar and Ar-5% H2 flow. According to the spectroscopic characterization and NO removal tests, the DBD plasma did not destroy the crystal structure of PCN, but improved the separation efficiency of photogenerated charges and enhanced the capacity of NO abatement. The plasma treatment in Ar-5% H2 showed an optimal removal efficiency of 69.19% and a selectivity for nitrate of 90.51% under visible light irradiation. The hydrogen plasma etched the PCN surface, resulting in more defects (carbon vacancies) and carbonyl group on the surface, while the air plasma was found to increase the suspending –NO x bonding on the surface for the increased NO x emission under illumination. The generation of high-energy electron and reactive radicals in the electrical discharges could cause the surface modification of PCN for efficient photocatalysis.

KW - DBD plasma

KW - NO removal

KW - polymeric carbon nitride

KW - visible light photocatalysis

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U2 - 10.1088/1361-6463/ac782d

DO - 10.1088/1361-6463/ac782d

M3 - Article

SN - 0022-3727

VL - 55

JO - Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics

JF - Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics

IS - 35

M1 - 354003

ER -

Plasma-treatment of polymeric carbon nitride for efficient NO abatement under visible light

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

UN SDGs

Keywords

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