Higher Yield Urea-Derived Polymeric Graphitic Carbon Nitride with Mesoporous Structure and Superior Visible-Light-Responsive Activity

Lei Shi, Lin Liang, Fangxiao Wang, Mengshuai Liu, Kunlong Chen, Kening Sun, Naiqing Zhang*, Jianmin Sun

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

131 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

A series of mesoporous graphitic carbon nitride (mg-C3N4) materials have been prepared with urea and tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) as the precursors, which were thermally polycondensed to obtain the g-C3N4/silica composites, after silica was removed, mg-C3N4 with large surface area (170 m2 g-1) was successfully prepared. Excitingly, TEOS did not only act as a mesoporous-directing agent but also as the promoter for the urea polycondensation to g-C3N4, which made the urea polycondensation proceed at relatively low temperature. Thus, volatilization or/and decomposition of urea in the process of thermal treatment were reduced, resulting in the product yield of g-C3N4 from 0.3 to 0.4 g/10 g urea remarkably increasing to 1.2 g/10 g urea. Moreover, superior photocatalytic activities were observed for degrading methyl orange (MO) and H2 generation from water splitting over the mg-C3N4 photocatalyst. The facilely developed method for high-yield mesoporous g-C3N4 from cost-effective urea was more attractive for its wide applications in environmental treatment and energy development fields.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3412-3419
Number of pages8
JournalACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering
Volume3
Issue number12
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 5 Nov 2015
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • High yield
  • Mesoporous g-CN
  • TEOS
  • Urea
  • Visible-light catalysis

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