Carbon-nitride-based core–shell nanomaterials: synthesis and applications

Abstract

As a new type of photo-catalyst, graphitic carbon-nitride-based core–shell nanocomposites (nanomaterial@g-C3N4) have shown promising prospect for various applications in the photo-catalysis and other related fields when compared to bare graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) due to their unique physicochemical, optical and electrical properties resulting from the synergistic effect between core and shell, and also the protection of g-C3N4 shell to inhabit the reaggregation, photo-corrosion, oxidation or dissolution of nanocore. In this review, we have systematically summarized the preparation of g-C3N4-based composites, including physical adsorption, hydrothermal growth, thermal vapor condensation and the newly-developed precursor wrapping method according to recent researches. The advantages of g-C3N4-based core–shell composites including their physicochemical properties, stability, optical and electronic properties are highlighted. Various applications are addressed, such as photo-catalytic hydrogen production from water splitting, photo-catalytic degradation of organic pollutants, photo-catalytic reduction of carbon dioxide, and photo-electric anti-corrosion. Various strategies for designing and constructing highly effective g-C3N4-based core–shell composites are also thoroughly proposed, including band-gap and lattice match, optimization of the preparation method of nanocomposites and nanocore characteristics. This review can provide new directions in exploring g-C3N4-based nanomaterials for the applications in photo-catalysis or related fields as well as novel fabrication methods.