Porous Graphitic Carbon Nitride Derived from Melamine-Ammonium Oxalate Stacking Sheets with Excellent Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution Activity

A facile strategy to synthesize porous graphitic carbon nitride with stacking nanotubes by thermal condensation of melamine-ammonium oxalate stacking sheets is reported. The photocatalytic generation rate of hydrogen over the porous graphitic carbon nitride (99.7molh(-1)) is nearly 9.5 times as that of pristine g-C3N4 (10.5molh(-1)). Such enhancement is attributed to the large specific surface area (91.1m(2)g(-1)), improved visible-light absorption and efficient separation of photogenerated electrons and holes. The strategy of preparing the porous graphitic carbon nitride with modified melamine as a precursor opens a new gate for the regulation of the morphologies of g-C3N4 to get higher photocatalytic activity.