Enhanced photocatalytic activity and optical response mechanism of porous graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) nanosheets

• Published in: Materials research bulletin 2021-08, Vol.140, p.111263, Article 111263
• Main Authors: Zhang, Rui, Zhang, Xianmin, Liu, Saiwei, Tong, Junwei, Kong, Fan, Sun, Naikun, Han, Xiaoli, Zhang, Yanlin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Graphitic carbon nitride; Photocatalytic activity; Porous structure; Visible light absorption
• ISSN: 0025-5408; 1873-4227
• DOI: 10.1016/j.materresbull.2021.111263

[Display omitted] •Bulk graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4), fragmentized g-C3N4, and porous g-C3N4 nanosheets have been prepared by a facile solid-state reaction.•The porous g-C3N4 nanosheets exhibit the highest photocatalytic efficiency for degradation of Rhodamine B, which can be up to 100 % at 30 min.•The optical response mechanism was examined in detail, which is helpful to design high-performance photocatalytic materials. Bulk graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4), fragmentized g-C3N4, and porous g-C3N4 nanosheets have been prepared by a facile solid-state reaction. All samples have been systematically characterized by X-ray diffraction technique, transmission electron microscope, flourier transform infrared spectroscopy, photoluminescence spectroscopy, UV–vis spectra and nitrogen adsorption-desorption measurements. The photocatalytic performance of all g-C3N4 samples was evaluated by the degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) aqueous solution under a visible light irradiation. The porous g-C3N4 nanosheets exhibit the highest efficiency for degradation of RhB, which can be close to 100 % at 30 min. The degradation efficiency using bulk g-C3N4 and fragmentized g-C3N4 is only 85 % and 96 % at 60 min, respectively. The photocatalytic activity was investigated in detail to explore their optical response mechanism.