Nickel doped graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets and its application for dye degradation by chemical catalysis

Abstract A facile synthesis of transition metal-nickel doped graphitic carbon nitride (NiGCN) nanosheets with varying doping concentrations has been reported. X-Ray diffraction and Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopic study were performed to analyse the structural phase formation and different bonds present in the samples, whereas, field emission and transmission electron microscopic study provided the morphological information. The thermal stability of the samples was measured from the TG-DTA analysis. Photoluminescence spectroscopy was performed to elucidate the emissive property of the samples. The flat band potential of the samples was measured by Mott-Schottky analysis. First principle study was carried out to delineate the probable doping site of the Ni atom along with the effect of doping on the pure material. The samples were effectively utilized to degrade toxic methyl orange (MO) dye from water in the presence of sodium borohydride (NaBH4) without exploiting any visible light source. The plausible catalysis mechanism following a series of several chemical reactions has been discussed in details.