A 3D nitrogen-doped graphene aerogel for enhanced visible-light photocatalytic pollutant degradation and hydrogen evolution

Abstract

Three-dimensional (3D) graphene-based aerogels have attracted widespread interest as promising photocatalysts for dye degradation and hydrogen production. Herein, we have developed a 3D nitrogen-doped graphene aerogel (3DNG) from graphitic carbon nitride combined with graphene oxide (GO). The nitrogen dopant in the 3D aerogel was achieved via a thermal treatment at 1000 °C, and the 3D aerogel catalyst could retain its 3D porous structure after the thermal treatment. The 3DNG was characterized via FTIR, Raman, TEM, UV-vis, XPS spectroscopies and BET analysis, and the results indicated that this 3DNG with a large surface area of 536 m² g⁻¹ and a band gap of 2.42 eV demonstrated a high adsorption capacity and enhanced methylene blue degradation and hydrogen production under visible light irradiation. Characterization also identified that the porous 3D structure with hydrogen bonding and π–π interactions and better charge transfer resulting from the nitrogen doping are the major reasons for the enhanced photocatalytic performance over this 3DNG catalyst.