title: Defect-meditated efficient catalytic activity toward p-nitrophenol reduction: A case study of nitrogen doped calcium niobate system.
abstract: This work reported on the synthesis of a series of nitrogen doped Ca2Nb2O7 with tunable nitrogen content that were found to be efficient and green noble-metal-free catalysts toward catalytic reduction of p-nitrophenol. XPS and ESR results indicated that the introduction of nitrogen in Ca2Nb2O7 gave rise to a large number of defective nitrogen and oxygen species. Defective nitrogen and oxygen species were found to play synergetic roles in the reduction of p-nitrophenol. The underlying mechanism is completely different from those reported for metallic nanoparticles. Moreover, the more negative conduction band edge potential enabled nitrogen doped Ca2Nb2O7 to show photo-synergistic effects that could accelerate the reduction rate toward p-nitrophenol under UV light irradiation. This work may provide a strategy for tuning the catalytic performance by modulating the chemical composition, electronic structure as well as surface defect chemistry.
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia 010021, PR China.
authors.forename: Yiguo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Su
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia 010021, PR China.
authors.forename: Shushu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia 010021, PR China.
authors.forename: Tingting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia 010021, PR China.
authors.forename: Liman
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.affiliation: College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia 010021, PR China. Electronic address: wang_xiao_jing@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Xiaojing
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D017610:Calcium Compounds / Q000138:chemical synthesis*; D002384:Catalysis; D009556:Niobium / Q000737:chemistry*; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000737:chemistry; D009596:Nitrophenols / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D017610:Calcium Compounds; D009596:Nitrophenols; D009556:Niobium; D009584:Nitrogen; C024836:4-nitrophenol
keywords: Catalysis; Defect chemistry; Niobate; Nitrogen doping; p-Nitrophenol