Revisiting the roles of dopants in g-C3N4 nanostructures for piezo-photocatalytic production of H2O2: a case study of selenium and sulfur

Abstract

The sustainable production of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) from oxygen and water has become an exciting research hotspot in the scientific community due to the importance of this fine chemical in various fields. Besides, piezo-photocatalysis is an emerging star for generating H₂O₂ from these green reagents. For developing catalysts for this specific application, doping heteroatoms into carbon-based materials such as graphitic carbon nitrides (g-C₃N₄) is a growing fascination among worldwide scientists. However, systematic study on the effects of doping precursors on the catalytic results is still rare. Herein, we fabricated sulfur (S) and selenium (Se) doped g-C₃N₄ with various doping precursors to evaluate the effects of these agents on the production of H₂O₂ under light and ultrasound irradiation. Based on the results, Se-doped g-C₃N₄ gave an outstanding catalytic performance compared to S-doped g-C₃N₄, even in a significantly low quantity of Se. In order to fully understand the chemical, physical, optical, and electronic properties of pristine g-C₃N₄ and its derivatives, the as-prepared materials were thoroughly analyzed with various tools. Thus, this study would give more profound insights into doping techniques for carbon-based materials and encourage further research on the design and development of piezo-photocatalysts for practical applications.