Characterization of highly effective plasma-treated g-C3N4 and application to the photocatalytic H2O2 production

Plasma treated g-C3N4 (PT-g-C3N4) was obtained by a simple and rapid DBD plasma modification process on the pristine g-C3N4. Compared with the pristine g-C3N4, the grain size of the PT-g-C3N4 decreased from 99.2 nm to 57.2 nm, the specific surface area and the pore volume increased by 15% and 33.8%, respectively. Oxygen-containing groups such as -NO2 and -COOH were observed to form on the surface of PT-g-C3N4 so the hydrophilic property of PT-g-C3N4 was much higher than that of pristine g-C3N4. More importantly, the photocatalytic H2O2 production activity of PT-g-C3N4 was significantly improved on account of the treatment in plasma atmosphere for only 5 min, the H2O2 yield of which was about 13 times that of the pristine g-C3N4. Our finding is not only of great significance for effectively promoting the production of H2O2 under mild conditions, but also proposes an innovative DBD plasma method to modify the g-C3N4 photocatalyst, which effectively promotes the improvement of photocatalytic activity and provides valuable insights for catalyst modification studies.