A simple fabrication for sulfur doped graphitic carbon nitride porous rods with excellent photocatalytic activity degrading RhB dye

Constructing special nanostructures with large surface areas and tuning the band gap by element doping are efficient strategies to enhance the photocatalytic activity of semiconductor materials. Here we combined both strategies in one material to form sulfur-doped graphitic carbon nitride porous rods (S-pg-C3N4) in one pot by simply pyrolysis of the melamine-trithiocyanuric acid complex with different temperatures. The samples were characterized by XRD, FT-IR, and elemental analysis; nitrogen adsorption isotherms, SEM and TEM images; and UV-vis DRS and photoluminescence spectra. Characterizations showed that S-pg-C3N4 possessed porous rod structure with a larger surface area (20-52 m(2)/g) than that of bulk g-C3N4, and the surface area of the S-pg-C3N4 samples increased with the increase of heating temperature. Meanwhile, the trace sulfur remained in the framework of g-C3N4 formed sulfur doped g-C3N4, and the visible light absorption edge of the S-pg-C3N4 was extended, corresponding to a narrowed band gap. As a result, the S-pg-C3N4 samples exhibited an enhanced physical adsorption and photocatalytic activity in the degradation of Rhodamine B dye under visible light. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V.