A "ship-in-a-bottle" strategy to fabricate highly crystallized nanoporous graphitic C3N4 microspheres under pressurized conditions. Issue 15 (26th March 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Si, Yinsong; Sun, Zongzhao; Huang, Limin; Chen, Min; Wu, Limin
• Is Part Of: Journal of materials chemistry. Volume 7:Issue 15(2019)
• Page Start: 8952
• Page End: 8959
• Publication Date: 2019-03-26
• Subjects: Materials -- Research -- Periodicals; Chemistry, Analytic -- Periodicals; Environmental sciences -- Research -- Periodicals; 543.0284
• DOI: 10.1039/c9ta00151d
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2050-7488

Abstract

Abstract : Highly crystallized nanoporous g-C3 N4 microspheres were obtained by confined thermal polymerization of the precursor inside hollow silica microspheres under a pressurized atmosphere. Abstract : Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3 N4 ) is a promising visible light photocatalyst but shows only moderate activity due to its high carrier recombination and low charge mobility. Herein, we synthesize a novel kind of nanoporous g-C3 N4 microsphere (Np-CNM) with highly improved crystallinity via a "ship-in-a-bottle" strategy using mesoporous hollow silica spheres as nanoreactors. Confined thermal polymerization of the precursor inside the hollow cavity under pressurized conditions provide Np-CNMs with a highly nanoporous structure and improve crystallinity simultaneously which can not only significantly suppress the carrier recombination but also accelerate the interlayer charge transfer. The as-obtained Np-CNMs demonstrate a considerably enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen evolution rate (5785 μmol −1 h −1 g −1 ) under visible-light irradiation ( λ ≥ 420 nm), which is more than 44 and 30 times that of bulk g-C3 N4 and Np-CNMs produced at atmospheric pressure, respectively. This work identifies a reliable route to obtain highly crystallized nanostructured g-C3 N4 microspheres, which are important for constructing high performance photocatalysts.