Enhanced visible-light-driven photocatalytic hydrogen evolution and NO photo-oxidation capacity of ZnO/g-C3N4 with N dopant

The nitrogen-rich ZnO/g-C3N4 composites were prepared and exhibited excellent photocatalytic performance for hydrogen evolution and NO photo-oxidation under visible-light illumination. The obtained nitrogen-rich ZnO/g-C3N4 composite has efficient visible-light utilization and effective separation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. Experimental data verifies that the photocatalytic activity of ZnO/g-C3N4 composite could be improved by N dopant. NZnOCN1 composite exhibits the highest photocatalytic activity for H-2 evolution and NO removal. The results show that the possible mechanism of the photocatalytic H-2 evolution reaction is the type II mechanism, while the Z-scheme mechanism of nitrogen-rich ZnO/g-C3N4 composite is conducive to NO photo-oxidation.