Bio-Inspired Supramolecular Self-Assembled Carbon Nitride Nanostructures for Photocatalytic Water Splitting

Fast production of hydrogen and oxygen in large amounts at an economic rate is the need of the hour to cater to the needs of the most awaited hydrogen energy, a futuristic renewable energy solution. Production of hydrogen through simple water splitting via visible light photocatalytic approach using sunlight is considered as one of the most promising and sustainable approaches for generating clean fuels. For this purpose, a variety of catalytic techniques and novel catalysts have been investigated. Among these catalysts, carbon nitride is presently deemed as one of the best candidates for the visible light photocatalysis due to its unique molecular structure and adequate visible-range bandgap. Its bandgap can be further engineered by structural and morphological manipulation or by doping/hybridization. Among numerous synthetic approaches for carbon nitrides, supramolecular self-assembly is one of the recently developed elegant bottom-up strategies as it is bio-inspired and provides a facile and eco-friendly route to synthesize high surface area carbon nitride with superior morphological features and other semiconducting and catalytic properties. The current review article broadly covers supramolecular self-assembly synthesis of carbon nitride nanostructures and their photocatalytic water-splitting applications and provides a comprehensive outlook on future directions. Bio-inspired supramolecular self-assembly is an elegant bottom-up strategy to synthesize high surface area carbon nitride with superior morphological features and other semiconducting and catalytic properties in a facile and eco-friendly manner. The current review article provides a bird's eye view of supramolecular self-assembly synthesis of carbon nitride nanostructures and their photocatalytic water-splitting application and provides a comprehensive outlook.image

Automated summary

The study on water splitting for hydrogen production using visible light photocatalytic method is considered as a sustainable approach, with carbon nitride being one of the most promising catalysts. The supramolecular self-assembly synthesis of carbon nitride offers a simple and eco-friendly method to produce high surface area carbon nitride with superior morphological features.