Competitive assembling strategy to construct carbon nitride homojunctions for boosting photocatalytic performance

Abstract

Both morphology and composition have a great influence on the properties and functions of materials, however, how to rational modulate both of them to achieve their synergistic effects has been a long-standing expectation. Herein, we demonstrate a competitive assembling strategy for the construction of metal-free graphite carbon nitride (CN) homojunctions in which morphology and composition can be easily controlled simultaneously by only changing the ratio of assembly raw materials. These homojunctions are comprised of porous nanotubular S-doped CN (SCN) grafted with CN nanovesicles, which are derived from thermal polycondensation of melamine-thiocyanuric acid (M-T)/melamine-cyanuric acid (M-C) supramolecular hybrid blocks. This unique architecture and component engineering endows the novel SCN–CN homojunction with abundant active sites, enhanced visible trapping ability, and intimate interface contact. As a result, the synthesized SCN–CN homojunctions demonstrate high photocatalytic activity for hydrogen evolution and pollutant degradation. This developed strategy opens up intriguing opportunities for the rational construction of intricate metal-free heterostructures with controllable architecture and interfacial contact for applications in energy-related fields.