Effect of molten-salt modulation on the composition and structure of g-C₃N₄-based photocatalysts

Abstract

Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4), as an attractive metal-free polymer photocatalyst, has attracted extensive attention in the energy and environmental fields in recent years. Whereas, the photoactive of bulk g-C3N4 is...

Progress on enhancing the charge separation efficiency of carbon nitride for robust photocatalytic H2 production

“…Many strategies have been developed to promote the polymerization of precursors and synthesize the highly crystalline g-C 3 N 4 , including salt-assisted methods, microwave synthesis, two-step calcination, etc. 41–43 For example, Song et al 44 first prepared ultrathin g-C 3 N 4 nanosheets by air-assisted thermal exfoliation, then the resulting nanosheets were treated in the NaCl/KCl molten salts to obtain the highly crystalline g-C 3 N 4 nanosheets based on the heptazine–triazine units (donor–acceptor motifs, D–A). The high crystallinity and formed D–A structure promoted charge separation and transfer, resulting in a much higher H 2 evolution activity of 20.9 mmol h −1 g −1 with an AQE of 73.6% at 420 nm compared with the original g-C 3 N 4 nanosheets (1.0 mmol h −1 g −1 ).…”