Carbon chains modulate carrier transport in tubular graphitic carbon nitride for efficient photocatalytic degradation

Abstract

In recent years, environmental wastewater has become an increasingly prominent problem, and photocatalytic degradation is one of the effective means to treat waste pollutants. In this study, glycine was embedded in a tubular carbon nitride material with melamine as the parent by a supramolecular self-assembly strategy to prepare carbon chains implanted tubular graphitic carbon nitride (CTCN). The introduction of carbon chains can reduce the formation of hydrogen bonds, which is beneficial to improve the carrier transport efficiency. It can also adjust the valence band position and has better reduction performance. The thin-walled tubular structure formed by supramolecular self-assembly exposes more active sites and shortens the carrier transport distance due to the size effect, which further improves the carrier separation efficiency. The synergistic effect of the two greatly contributes to the photocatalytic performance of the material. The degradation rate of 0.3% CTCN is 8.1 times higher than that of Bulk CN, and 0.3% CTCN exhibits good stability. This solution is beneficial to optimize some existing wastewater treatment methods and has a role in environmental protection.