Enhanced visible light photocatalytic activity of novel polymeric g-C3N4 loaded with Ag nanoparticles

The g-C(3)N(4) photocatalyst was synthesized by directly heating the low-cost melamine. The methyl orange dye (MO) was selected as a photodegrading goal to evaluate the photocatalytic activity of as-prepared g-C(3)N(4). The comparison experiments indicate that the photocatalytic activity of g-C(3)N(4) can be largely improved by the Ag loading. The strong acid radical ion (SO(4)(2-) or NO(3)(-)) can promote the degrading rate of MO for g-C(3)N(4) photocatalysis system. The MO degradation over the g-C(3)N(4) is mainly attributed to the photoreduction process induced by the photogenerated electrons. Our results clearly indicate that the metal-free g-C(3)N(4) has good performance in photodegradation of organic pollutant.

The properties of a material depend on the type of motion its electrons can execute, which depends on the space available for them (i.e., on the degree of their spatial confinement). Thus, the properties of each material are characterized by a specific length scale, usually on the nanometer dimension. If the physical size of the material is reduced below this length scale, its properties change and become sensitive to its size and shape. In this Account we describe some of the observed new chemical, optical, and thermal properties of metallic nanocrystals when their size is confined to the nanometer length scale and their dynamical processes are observed on the femto- to picosecond time scale.

As a new kind of polymeric semiconductors, graphitic carbon nitride (g-C(3)N(4)) and its incompletely condensed precursors are stable up to 550 degrees C in air and have shown promising photovoltaic applications. However, for practical applications, their efficiency, limited e.g. by band gap absorption, needs further improvement. Here we report a "structural doping" strategy, in which phosphorus heteroatoms were doped into g-C(3)N(4) via carbon sites by polycondensation of the mixture of the carbon nitride precursors and phosphorus source (specifically from 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ionic liquid). Most of the structural features of g-C(3)N(4) were well retained after doping, but electronic features had been seriously altered, which provided not only a much better electrical (dark) conductivity up to 4 orders of magnitude but also an improvement in photocurrent generation by a factor of up to 5. In addition to being active layers in solar cells, such phosphorus-containing scaffolds and materials are also interesting for polymeric batteries as well as for catalysis and as catalytic supports.