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

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.

Automated summary

Different morphologies of g-C3N4 samples were prepared by a solid-state reaction, among which the porous g-C3N4 nanosheets showed the highest efficiency in degrading RhB, close to 100% within 30 minutes. The photocatalytic activity and optical response mechanism of these samples were further investigated in detail.