Polyaniline/Carbon Nitride Nanosheets Composite Hydrogel: A Separation‐Free and High‐Efficient Photocatalyst with 3D Hierarchical Structure

Abstract

A polyaniline (PANI)/carbon nitride nanosheets (CNNS) composite hydrogel with 3D hierarchical nanostructure is synthesized via in situ polymerization. The 3D hierarchical structure is robust and stable, making the composite hydrogel separation-free and easy to recycling. It is highly excellent in removing organic pollutant for PANI/CNNS composite hydrogel on account of the cooperation of adsorptive preconcentration and the following photocatalytic oxidation. Pollutants are first adsorbed and concentrated into the 3D hierarchical nanostructure of the composite hydrogel. Then the pollutants are in situ oxidized via photocatalysis. The promoted photocatalytic performance can be mainly ascribed to the outstanding interfacial charge separation and photoelectrochemical performance. A new idea of the construction of 3D hierarchical photocatalysts is presented, which can be applied in the sustainability field.

Photo‐Induced Hydrogel Formation Based on g‐C3N4 Nanosheets with Self‐Cross‐Linked 3D Framework for UV Protection Application

“…Recently, graphitic carbon nitride (g‐C 3 N 4 ) as metal‐free semiconductor has attracted extensive attention . It has been successfully used to reinforce hydrogels, and meanwhile bestowed additional properties on the obtained composite hydrogels . Nevertheless, the current synthetic process is relatively complex and needs external initiators or cross‐linkers.…”

“…For example, Jiang et al. triggered the polymerization of aniline by ammonium persulfate (APS) in presence of cross‐linker and carbon nitride . Sun et al.…”

Fabrication of g‐C3N4/Au/C‐TiO2 Hollow Structures as Visible‐Light‐Driven Z‐Scheme Photocatalysts with Enhanced Photocatalytic H2 Evolution

“…Moreover, g‐C 3 N 4 exhibits excellent photocatalytic performance for water‐splitting owing to its unique electronic structure and high stability . The unique two‐dimensional (2D) structure also allows g‐C 3 N 4 to be easily fabricated into photocatalysts with diverse structures . In addition, a moderate band gap of 2.7 eV allows g‐C 3 N 4 to absorb light at wavelengths up to 450 nm, which makes it an excellent visible‐light‐driven polymeric photocatalyst .…”

Room‐Temperature Synthesis and Enhanced Photocatalytic Performance of BiOCl Microsphere

“…To further enhance the photocatalytic efficiency of BiOCl, many protocols, such as synthesizing hierarchical nano/microstrcture, engineering active facets as well as producing oxygen vacancies, were proposed and studied. It is well known that hierarchical nano/microstructures congregated by zero‐dimensional, one‐dimensional, or two‐dimensional can improve light harvesting ability, facilitate interfacial charge separation, shorten diffusion pathways and provide more reactive sites, and thus enhancing photocatalytic performance . For instance, Zhan et al.…”