Ultrathin structure of oxygen doped carbon nitride for efficient CO2 photocatalytic reduction

Photocatalytic conversion of carbon dioxide into fuels and valuable chemicals is a promising method for carbon neutralization and solving environmental problems. Through a simple thermal-oxidative exfoliation method, the O element was doped while exfoliated bulk g-C3N4 into ultrathin structure g-C3N4. Benefitting from the ultrathin structure of g-C3N4, the larger surface area and shorter electrons migration distance effectively improve the CO2 reduction efficiency. In addition, density functional thory computation proves that O element doping introduces new impurity energy levels, which making electrons easier to be excited. The prepared photocatalyst reduction of CO2 to CO (116 μmol g−1 h−1) and CH4 (47 μmol g−1 h−1).