Optimizing the electronic configuration of h-BN for boosting the photocatalytic transformation of acid gases under visible light

Abstract

Developing the diverse chemical properties and expanding the catalytic performance of boron nitride (BN) materials remains a formidable challenge although it has long been a hot topic of research. Optimizing the electronic configuration of BN is implemented by incorporating heteroatomic carbon, which endows modified BN with features in terms of visible-light response, highly efficient charge separation and available surface-active sites. In addition, it was also found that the introduction of carbon also enhanced the adsorption and activation of BN on reactant molecules using diffuse reflection infrared Fourier transformation spectroscopy (DRIFTS), temperature-programmed desorption (TPD) and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy. As expected, carbon-doped boron nitride (BCN) shows remarkable performance in the photocatalytic removal of hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) and nitric oxide (NO). The optimized BCN sample exhibits 99% and 60% of the photocatalytic removal efficiency for 20 ppm H₂S (Flow velocity, 20 mL min⁻¹) and 1 ppm NO (Flow velocity, 500 mL min⁻¹), respectively. This work provides insight into the design of functionalized BN and an exciting approach to handling low-concentration acidic gases.