Three in one: atomically dispersed Na boosting the photoreactivity of carbon nitride towards NO oxidation

Abstract

Single atomic Na (Na-SA) was successfully anchored on the surface of carbon nitride nanosheets (CN-NSs) by simple direct calcination of the hydrothermally NaHCO₃ pretreated dicyandiamide (DCDA) precursor. The introduction of Na-SA results in the electron transfer from Na to the complex N_2C, not only improving the light absorption and increasing the adsorption ability, but also stimulating the separation of charge carriers, which sharply improves the NO removal rate from 36.8% to 52.5%, and prevents the production of toxic NO₂ by-product. The excellent photo-stability makes Na-SA/NN-NSs a good candidate photocatalyst for air purification.