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Tailoring the Morphology of g‐C 3 N 4 by Self‐Assembly towards High Photocatalytic Performance
Author(s) -
Liao Yongliang,
Zhu Shenmin,
Ma Jun,
Sun Zhihua,
Yin Chao,
Zhu Chengling,
Lou Xianghong,
Zhang Di
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
chemcatchem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.497
H-Index - 106
eISSN - 1867-3899
pISSN - 1867-3880
DOI - 10.1002/cctc.201402654
Subject(s) - photocatalysis , graphitic carbon nitride , rhodamine b , calcination , melamine , morphology (biology) , materials science , cyanuric acid , specific surface area , chemical engineering , carbon nitride , nanotechnology , catalysis , chemistry , organic chemistry , composite material , biology , engineering , genetics
We report a novel method for the preparation of graphitic carbon nitride (g‐C 3 N 4 ) with various morphologies through self‐assembly and calcination, which starts from the raw materials melamine, urea, and cyanuric acid. The hollow to wormlike morphologies of g‐C 3 N 4 could be readily tailored by adjusting the molar ratio of melamine to urea; with increase in the molar ratio from 3:1 to 1:3, a morphology transformation was observed. The morphologies were tailored by self‐assembly of the aggregates by hydrogen bonding and ionic interactions. Correspondingly, an increased BET surface area from 49.6 to 97.4 m 2 g −1 was observed. If used as a photocatalyst in degrading rhodamine B (RhB) under visible‐light irradiation, these g‐C 3 N 4 samples demonstrated 7 to 13 times higher performance than conventional bulk g‐C 3 N 4 . The high performance was attributed to the unique morphology that provided not only high specific surface area but low recombination losses of photogenerated charges.