Abstract
In this work, with the help of KH2PO4, a phosphorus and kalium co-doped g-C3N4 with cyano and nitrogen vacancies (PKCN) have been prepared via a simple thermal treatment. The prepared PKCN exhibited excellent singlet oxygen (1O2) generation ability for the highly efficient degradation of atrazine (ATZ), reaching 95% (pH=5) of decomposition efficiency within 60 min under visible light. Density functional theory (DFT) calculation results visualize the role of cyano groups, nitrogen vacancies, K atoms and P atoms, and the synergistic effect of the above four aspects contributed to the three pathways of hole oxidation, energy transfer and dismutation reaction for efficient 1O2 generation. Moreover, the T.E.S.T and soybean culture experiment demonstrated the toxicity of ATZ have been significantly reduced after the photocatalytic process. This work can give deep insights into the roles and synergy of each active unit for designing and synthesizing efficient g-C3N4.
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•Fabricated phosphorus and kalium-doped g-C3N4 with cyano and nitrogen vacancies.•Efficient singlet oxygen production based on the synergy between active components.•PKCN exhibited great photocatalytic atrazine removal and singlet oxygen production.•The role of each unit of PKCN in the photocatalytic reaction was visually revealed.•Intermediate toxicity of atrazine was assessed by soybean cultivation experiments.