Preparation of N-vacancy-doped g-C3N4 with outstanding photocatalytic H2O2 production ability by dielectric barrier discharge plasma treatment

Dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma is considered to be a promising method to synthesize solid catalysts. In this work, DBD plasma was used to synthesize a nitrogen-vacancy-doped g-C3N4 catalyst in situ for the first time. X-ray diffraction, N-2 adsorption, ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, electron paramagnetic resonance, O-2 temperature-programmed desorption, and photoluminescence were used to characterize the obtained catalysts. The photocatalytic H2O2 production ability of the as-prepared catalyst was investigated. The results show that plasma treatment influences the morphology, structure, and optical properties of the as-prepared catalyst. Nitrogen vacancies are active centers, which can adsorb reactant oxygen molecules, trap photoelectrons, and promote the transfer of photoelectrons from the catalyst to the adsorbed oxygen molecules for the subsequent reduction reaction. This work provides a new strategy for synthesizing g-C3N4-based catalysts. (C) 2018, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.