Effect of alkali metal cation doping in graphitic carbon nitride towards photocatalytic generation of hydrogen peroxide under direct sunlight
P. Haripriya, T.V. Anjana, K. R. Sreelakshmi, Nikhil T. Madhu, M.P. Anjana, Punathil Vasu Suneesh, Darbha V. Ravi Kumar
Abstract
H2O2, a powerful oxidant with a vast number of industrial applications, is being synthesized by the energy intensive anthraquinone process. Recently, H2O2 has been synthesized using H2O and O2 by photocatalysis. Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) is a popular low-cost photocatalyst that is known to produce H2O2. However, the properties g-C3N4 needs to be tailored to improve the yield of H2O2. We discuss such a modification of g-C3N4 by alkali metal cation doping. Among the Li+, Na+ and K+ ions, doping of 10 wt% of K+ in g-C3N4 increase the yield of H2O2 (200 μmol g−1 h−1) by 2.5 times as compared un-doped g-C3N4 under natural sunlight.