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Graphene‐Like Carbon Nitride Nanosheets for Improved Photocatalytic Activities
Author(s) -
Niu Ping,
Zhang Lili,
Liu Gang,
Cheng HuiMing
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
advanced functional materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.069
H-Index - 322
eISSN - 1616-3028
pISSN - 1616-301X
DOI - 10.1002/adfm.201200922
Subject(s) - materials science , photocatalysis , graphene , graphitic carbon nitride , van der waals force , chemical engineering , charge carrier , nanotechnology , band gap , nitride , optoelectronics , catalysis , molecule , organic chemistry , chemistry , engineering , layer (electronics)
“Graphitic” (g)‐C 3 N 4 with a layered structure has the potential of forming graphene‐like nanosheets with unusual physicochemical properties due to weak van der Waals forces between layers. Herein is shown that g‐C 3 N 4 nanosheets with a thickness of around 2 nm can be easily obtained by a simple top‐down strategy, namely, thermal oxidation etching of bulk g‐C 3 N 4 in air. Compared to the bulk g‐C 3 N 4 , the highly anisotropic 2D‐nanosheets possess a high specific surface area of 306 m 2 g −1 , a larger bandgap (by 0.2 eV), improved electron transport ability along the in‐plane direction, and increased lifetime of photoexcited charge carriers because of the quantum confinement effect. As a consequence, the photocatalytic activities of g‐C 3 N 4 nanosheets have been remarkably improved in terms of •OH radical generation and photocatalytic hydrogen evolution.