Objective Findings on the K-Doped <i>g</i>-C<sub>3</sub>N<sub>4</sub> Photocatalysts: The Presence and Influence of Organic Byproducts on K-Doped <i>g</i>-C<sub>3</sub>N<sub>4</sub> Photocatalysis
Binyao Liu, Xiaoqin Nie, Yi Tang, Shan Yang, Liang Bian, Faqin Dong, Huichao He, Yong Zhou, Kun Liu
Abstract
The thermal-condensation method is widely used for the synthesis of K-doped g-C3N4 photocatalysts, but the presence of organic byproducts in the resultant products is often overlooked in previous reports. Here, we demonstrated the universal presence of organic byproducts in K-doped g-C3N4 synthesized by typical thermal condensation of KOH/melamine, KOH/dicyandiamide, or KOH/urea. Taking the K-doped g-C3N4 photocatalysis for the degradation of dimethyl phthalate as an example, the negative influence of the organic byproducts on K-doped g-C3N4 photocatalysis was confirmed. Specifically, the organic byproducts can be gradually dissolved into the photocatalytic system of K-doped g-C3N4 as new and stable pollutants. Based on the solubility investigations on the byproducts in several solvents, hot-water washing was demonstrated to be a relatively effective approach to remove the organic byproducts from K-doped g-C3N4. The formation of organic byproducts during the synthesis of K-doped g-C3N4 could be ascribed to the fact that the presence of K salts in melamine, dicyandiamide, or urea molecules results in their insufficient thermal condensation into expected g-C3N4. The present work provides objective information about the K-doped g-C3N4 photocatalysts and reminds researchers about the influence of the organic byproducts on the applications of the other impurity-doped g-C3N4 photocatalysts.