Chlorine-Modified Soluble Melem-Based Graphitic Carbon Nitrite: Facile Synthesis, Catalytic Property and Ultrafast 2D...

On the basis of thermal etching bulk graphitic carbon nitride (g-C₃N₄), a mild hydrochloric acid treatment method was used in this work to produce g-C₃N₄ nano-sheets (CNNS) and further carbon nitride with chloride-modification (CNCl). The latter has thinner layer and smaller particle size and exhibit greatly improved dispersibility and solubility in water, DMSO and other polar solvents. A typical photocatalytic reaction in solution driven by CNCl shows a significantly improved photocatalytic performance over bulk g-C₃N₄ and CNNS. Steady-state analytical tools including SEM, mass, UV-Vis, and IR spectroscopies, and time-resolved two-dimensional infrared (2D IR) vibrational spectroscopy, were used together in this work. Better solubility, more flexible structure, smaller size, easier generation of free radicals and lower recombination rate of electron-hole pair, are believed to be reasons for the superior photocatalytic performance of CNCl.