In situ extract nucleate sites for the growth of free-standing carbon nitride films on various substrates

• Published in: Catalysis today 2020-01, Vol.340, p.92-96
• Main Authors: Li, Huiliang, Huang, Huining, Wang, Zeyan, Zheng, Zhaoke, Wang, Peng, Liu, Yuanyuan, Zhang, Xiaoyang, Qin, Xiaoyan, Dai, Ying, Li, Yingjie, Zou, Huiling, Huang, Baibiao
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Free-standing films; Graphitic carbon nitride; In situ extract nucleate sites; Photocatalytic hydrogen evolution
• ISSN: 0920-5861; 1873-4308
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cattod.2019.02.022

[Display omitted] •CCl4 assisted method was firstly applied to construct free-standing g-C3N4 films.•Metal cations can be in-situ extracted from the substrates and serve as nucleate sites.•The physicochemical properties of the g-C3N4 films can be easily adjusted.•The g-C3N4 film exhibited an excellent visible-light hydrogen evolution rate of 74.98 μmol g−1 h−1. Developing a simple and general method to fabricate graphitic carbon nitride (g-CN) film is crucial for the application of devices. Herein, we report a CCl4-assisted method for the fabrication of continuous g-CN films on various substrates with in-situ extracted metal cations as nucleate sites. The g-CN film exhibits continuous wrinkles-like graphene structure, and can be completely exfoliated as a free-standing film. In the g-CN film, the metallic cations are bonded with the electron-rich nitrogen as the nucleate sites for connecting molecular structure. By changing the synthesis temperature and the flow rate of CCl4, the thickness and the band structure of the g-CN films can be successfully adjusted. Under visible light illumination, the g-CN films exhibit efficient hydrogen evolution with a rate of 74.98 μmol g−1 h−1. We believe that the precise controlled free-standing g-CN film will shed light on many opportunities in the utilization of graphitic carbon nitride for catalysis, sensor, electronic and energy-related applications. This method may open a new avenue to fabricate other two-dimensional films on different substrates.