Graphitic Carbon Nitride: A Highly Electroactive Nanomaterial for Environmental and Clinical Sensing

Abstract

Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) is a two-dimensional conjugated polymer that has attracted the interest of researchers and industrial communities owing to its outstanding analytical merits such as low-cost synthesis, high stability, unique electronic properties, catalytic ability, high quantum yield, nontoxicity, metal-free, low bandgap energy, and electron-rich properties. Notably, graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) is the most stable allotrope of carbon nitrides. It has been explored in various analytical fields due to its excellent biocompatibility properties, including ease of surface functionalization and hydrogen-bonding. Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) acts as a nanomediator and serves as an immobilization layer to detect various biomolecules. Numerous reports have been presented in the literature on applying graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) for the construction of electrochemical sensors and biosensors. Different electrochemical techniques such as cyclic voltammetry, electrochemiluminescence, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, square wave anodic stripping voltammetry, and amperometry techniques have been extensively used for the detection of biologic molecules and heavy metals, with high sensitivity and good selectivity. For this reason, the leading drive of this review is to stress the importance of employing graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) for the fabrication of electrochemical sensors and biosensors.

Advances in Carbon Nitride-Based Materials and Their Electrocatalytic Applications

“…As mentioned earlier, C x N y is known for its various allotropes with different names and qualities, among which g-C 3 N 4 has the most stable structure under ambient conditions. 95 In the following, the general and fundamental properties of g-C 3 N 4 , as shown in Figure 5, are briefly reviewed. g-C 3 N 4 is an easy to synthesize, low-cost, and nontoxic indirect semiconductor with a medium band gap suitable for sustainable chemistry.…”

2D materials: increscent quantum flatland with immense potential for applications

“…Among 2D materials, metal, non-metal and metal-free nitrides are also used in electrochemical sensing due to their good chemical stability, availability, electronic structure, and adjustable bandgap. Among non-metal nitrides, Graphitic carbon nitride (GCN) is quite studied, and many researchers have applied it for heavy metal ion detection [ 148 ]. Wang et al reported porous form S-doped C 3 N 4 tubes/ graphene nanosheets to detect Cd 2+ , Hg 2+ , and Pb 2+ electrochemically.…”

Molecularly imprinted polymersviareversible addition–fragmentation chain-transfer synthesis in sensing and environmental applications

“…Its molecular recognition capability, sensitivity, and dimensions create an attractive hybrid solution that combines nature's performance and selectivity as a signal transducer with electronics 99 that are used and commercialized as a sensor. [30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38] However, the main challenge with this architecture is that it stills rely upon physiological conditions such as pH and temperature. A solution to overcome this challenge has been to use the molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) technique, which mimics the key-lock principle with synthetic molecular structures.…”