Unique g-C3N4/PDI-g-C3N4 homojunction with synergistic piezo-photocatalytic effect for aquatic contaminant control and H2O2 generation under visible light

Rongdi Tang, Daoxin Gong, Yaoyu Zhou, Yaocheng Deng, Chengyang Feng, Sheng Xiong, Ying Huang, Guanwei Peng, Ling Li, Zhanpeng Zhou

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

212 Scopus citations

Abstract

Herein, a g-C3N4/PDI-g-C3N4 homojunction has been fabricated for piezo-photocatalytic atrazine removal and exhibited better performance than individual photocatalysis or piezocatalysis. The introduction of PDI induces the π-π interaction facilitating electrons migration, and twists the g-C3N4 plane into a more polar porous structure with enhanced piezoelectricity. The homojunction facilitates the photoelectron transfer at the g-C3N4/PDI-g-C3N4 interfaces. The photoelectricity and the piezoelectricity of g-C3N4/PDI-g-C3N4 were assessed. The finite element simulation showed that the porous structure of the g-C3N4/PDI-g-C3N4 is essential to the enhanced piezoelectricity. Astonishingly, the piezo-photocatalytic atrazine degradation rate under an optimized condition (pH=2.97) reached 94% within 60 min. Moreover, the g-C3N4/PDI-g-C3N4 homojunction produced 625.54 μM H2O2 during the one-hour piezo-photocatalysis. Given the quenching experiments, reactive species detection and the electronic band of g-C3N4/PDI-g-C3N4, the piezo-photocatalytic mechanism has been proposed. In addition, the degradation pathways and the reduced intermediates toxicity intermediates of atrazine have been investigated.
Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)120929
JournalApplied Catalysis B: Environmental
Volume303
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 15 2021

Bibliographical note

KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2022-01-27
Acknowledgements: The study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.51909089), Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province, China (Grant No. 2020JJ5252; No. 2020JJ5224), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. 2019M662781), Science Foundation for Young Scholars of Hunan Agricultural University (19QN35), and Hunan Provincial Innovation Foundation for Postgraduate (CX20200663).

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Environmental Science
  • Catalysis
  • Process Chemistry and Technology

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