A Comprehensive Review on Graphitic Carbon Nitride for Carbon Dioxide Photoreduction

Abstract

Inspired by natural photosynthesis, harnessing the wide range of natural solar energy and utilizing appropriate semiconductor‐based catalysts to convert carbon dioxide into beneficial energy species, for example, CO, CH4, HCOOH, and CH3COH have been shown to be a sustainable and more environmentally friendly approach. Graphitic carbon nitride (g‐C3N4) has been regarded as a highly effective photocatalyst for the CO2 reduction reaction, owing to its cost‐effectiveness, high thermal and chemical stability, visible light absorption capability, and low toxicity. However, weaker electrical conductivity, fast recombination rate, smaller visible light absorption window, and reduced surface area make this catalytic material unsuitable for commercial photocatalytic applications. Therefore, certain procedures, including elemental doping, structural modulation, functional group adjustment of g‐C3N4, the addition of metal complex motif, and others, may be used to improve its photocatalytic activity towards effective CO2 reduction. This review has investigated the scientific community's perspectives on synthetic pathways and material optimization approaches used to increase the selectivity and efficiency of the g‐C3N4‐based hybrid structures, as well as their benefits and drawbacks on photocatalytic CO2 reduction. Finally, the review concludes a comparative discussion and presents a promising picture of the future scope of the improvements.

Up-conversion effect boosted the photocatalytic CO2 reduction activity of Z-scheme CPDs/BiOBr heterojunction

“…4a, the band gap energy of BiOBr is close to 2.72 eV. The band gap of CPDs (0.67 eV) was 1–12,14–39 obtained according to the literature. 31 The Mott–Schottky plot was further employed to illustrate the type and band structure of BiOBr and CPDs.…”

“…In particular, global warming is a growing problem that will have a fatal impact on human life. [1][2][3] Therefore, the development and utilization of new forms of clean energy, such as tidal, ocean thermal, wind, and solar energy have attracted extensive research and attention. 4,5 Among them, solar energy can be employed as an excitation light source for photocatalytic carbon dioxide conversion technology, which is considered an environmentally friendly method for reducing the greenhouse effect and solving the energy crisis.…”

Different Dimensionalities, Morphological Advancements and Engineering of g‐C3N4‐Based Nanomaterials for Energy Conversion and Storage

“…resources. [257][258][259][260][261][262] It is difficult to get elevated productivity and specificity, because there are many stages and product lines that encompass more than one electron. The rate-determining stage is CO 2 stimulation (CO 2 !CO 2 À ) because it has a huge possibility than CO 2 to fuel production.…”

“…Photocatalytic CO 2 reduction is also called “artificial photosynthesis” because it uses sunlight to turn CO 2 into energy resources [257–262] . It is difficult to get elevated productivity and specificity, because there are many stages and product lines that encompass more than one electron.…”

Photocatalytic Synthesis of Ammonia from Pinecone Graphite-Phase Carbon Nitride Loaded with MoS2 Nanosheets as Co-catalysts

“…Graphite-phase carbon nitride (g-C 3 N 4 ), a new semiconductor photocatalyst, has garnered a lot of attention over the past few years. − The narrow band gap (2.4–2.9 eV) and the low CB level (−1.3 eV) of g-C 3 N 4 make it an attractive material for photocatalytic ammonia production . By thermally polymerizing melamine, urea, thiourea, dicyandiamide, and other organic carbons, g-C 3 N 4 , a low-cost semiconductor photocatalyst, can be made easily. , However, g-C 3 N 4 possesses poor visible light absorption and serious carrier recombination, which limit its photocatalytic activity .…”