Recent advances in carbon nitride-based nanomaterials for hydrogen production and storage

Abstract

There are different types of materials comprising of carbon and nitrogen elements. Typical materials are the cyanogen family, beta carbon nitride, graphitic carbon nitride, azafullerenes, and heterofullerenes, N-containing heterocycles. Except cyanogen (C2N2) is a gas, most others are solid. Among these solids, the graphitic carbon nitride, with the general chemical formula of C3N4, is widely studied in heterogeneous catalysis and energy storage. Such applications exploit the resiliency of the material in different environments due to its labile protons and Lewis acid functionalities, as well as its layered structure. The structure of graphitic C3N4 allows it to store a significant amount of hydrogen. Furthermore, it offers the space for dopants, which are used purposely for tuning the band gap and the electronic properties of C3N4 to make it suitable for water splitting using sun light, or many other applications in waste water treatment under radiation. We think that the material is important and it is not being exploited at its highest capability, especially in hydrogen production via water splitting technique. This review aims to summarize recent outcomes using the carbon nitride material in hydrogen production, and a brief about hydrogen storage. We also highlight future research directions which might worth being persuaded.