Recent Advances in g-C3N4 Photocatalysts: A Review of Reaction Parameters, Structure Design and Exfoliation Methods

Abstract

Graphitized carbon nitride (g-C3N4), as a metal-free, visible-light-responsive photocatalyst, has a very broad application prospect in the fields of solar energy conversion and environmental remediation. The g-C3N4 photocatalyst owns a series of conspicuous characteristics, such as very suitable band structure, strong physicochemical stability, abundant reserves, low cost, etc. Research on the g-C3N4 or g-C3N4-based photocatalysts for real applications has become a competitive hot topic and a frontier area with thousands of publications over the past 17 years. In this paper, we carefully reviewed the recent advances in the synthesis and structural design of g-C3N4 materials for efficient photocatalysts. First, the crucial synthesis parameters of g-C3N4 were fully discussed, including the categories of g-C3N4 precursors, reaction temperature, reaction atmosphere and reaction duration. Second, the construction approaches of various nanostructures were surveyed in detail, such as hard and soft template, supramolecular preorganization and template-free approaches. Third, the characteristics of different exfoliation methods were compared and summarized. At the end, the problems of g-C3N4 materials in photocatalysis and the prospect of further development were disclosed and proposed to provide some key guidance for designing more efficient and applicable g-C3N4 or g-C3N4-based photocatalysts.

Sonophotocatalytic degradation of sulfamethoxazole using lanthanum ferrite perovskite oxide anchored on an ultrasonically exfoliated porous graphitic carbon nitride nanosheet

“…22,25 The bending vibration of the hydroxyl of water attached to the surface of Pg-C 3 N 4 was provided by the peak available at 1637 cm −1 . C–N and CN groups of polymerized Pg-C 3 N 4 heterocycles were suggested by some other peaks found in the range of 1571–1255 cm −1 , 23 while for La 0.8 FO@PgNS, the peak shifted to 1630 and 1459 cm −1 for the C–N and CN groups. The significant reduction in the intensity of the C–N and CN peaks of Pg-C 3 N 4 in the modified sample La 0.8 FO@PgNS can be attributed to a lower amount of Pg-C 3 N 4 in the sample.…”

“…Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C 3 N 4 ) with a bandgap of 2.7 eV is a promising photocatalytic material that has attracted significant attention due to its unique properties such as non-toxicity, chemical and thermal stability, low-cost precursors in the synthesis method and electronic properties suitable for photocatalytic applications. 22,23 However, despite its potential, the photocatalytic performance of g-C 3 N 4 is limited by several factors. One of the main challenges is the low quantum efficiency, which results in a low conversion rate of light energy into chemical reactions.…”

Editorial: Special Issue Entitled “Development of g-C3N4-Based Photocatalysts: Environmental Purification and Energy Conversion”

“…Adjusting the morphology and structure of carbon nitride is one of the methods of modification. A review of reaction parameters, structure design and exfoliation methods focuses on the effect of various parameters of the synthesis process of g-C 3 N 4 on the photocatalytic activity and on the methods of construction of microstructures [8]. Moreover, the synthesis of g-C 3 N 4 was been described by Biswas et al [9].…”