Chemical exfoliation of graphitic carbon nitride for efficient heterogeneous photocatalysis

Abstract

Single atomic layer nanosheet materials show great application potential in many fields due to their enhanced intrinsic properties compared to their counterparts and newly born properties. Herein, g-C₃N₄ nanosheets with a single atomic layer structure are prepared by a simple chemical exfoliation method. The as-prepared nanosheets show a single atomic thickness of 0.4 nm and a lateral size of micrometers. The structure and photocatalytic properties of the as-prepared single layer g-C₃N₄ are then studied. Compared with the bulk g-C₃N₄, single layer g-C₃N₄ nanosheets show great superiority in photogenerated charge carrier transfer and separation. Accordingly, the photocatalytic H₂ production and pollutant decomposition activities and photocurrent generation of single layer g-C₃N₄ nanosheets are much higher than those of the bulk g-C₃N₄, indicating the great application potential of single layer g-C₃N₄ nanosheets in photocatalysis and photosynthesis.