Boosting the Catalytic Performance by Confining Rich Carbon Atoms over Graphite Carbon Nitride Structure

Abstract

In this study, the porous ultrathin graphitic carbon nitride (CN) nanosheets with rich C and nitrogen defects were prepared by one-step calcining the mixture of melamine and glucose (Glu) in air atmosphere (Glu-CN). Introducing simultaneously rich C atoms and nitrogen defects into CN structures continuously modulates the bandgaps from 2.67 to 1.81 eV of CN photocatalysts. Due to large surface area, more active sites, remarkably longer lifetime of charge carriers and adjustable band gap structure, the prepared ultrathin porous CN nanosheets show the enhanced photocatalytic performance for the degradation of methyl orange (MO) under visible light. The degradation efficiency of optimal CN nanosheet photocatalyst for MO is 5.75 times that of bulk CN. This work provides a facile and universal relevance approach to engineer the band structures of CN by introduction of rich C and porous morphology for high-performance photocatalytic, which can provide informative principles for the design of efficient photocatalysis systems for solar energy conversion.