Simultaneous Exfoliation and Modification of Graphitic Carbon Nitride Nanosheets

Abstract

This study demonstrates the simultaneous exfoliation and modification of graphitic carbon nitride (g‐C 3 N 4 ) via reductive alkylation. Our results reveal that the method is feasible and highly efficient in producing 2D g‐C 3 N 4 nanosheets which greatly overcome the drawbacks of bulk g‐C 3 N 4 photocatalyst. The reduced band gap caused by the covalent functionalization of alkyl chains on g‐C 3 N 4 lattice improves the photoresponse and the visible‐light harvesting ability, indicating more charge carriers will generate under visible‐light irradiation. In addition, the significantly enlarged surface area and the nanosheet structural benefits are favorable for the separation of photogenerated charge carriers. The photocatalytic activity of AGCNNs under visible‐light irradiation is highly enhanced because of the synergistic effects of these favorable factors. The RhB photodegradation rate and the photocatalytic H 2 evolution rate of AGCNNs are 3.9 and 1.9 times as fast as that of g‐C 3 N 4 , respectively. The photocatalytic activity of AGCNNs is further improved when combined with a minority of graphene sheets which are employed as electron acceptors promoting the separation of photogenerated charge carriers. The RhB photodegradation rate and the photocatalytic H 2 evolution rate of AGCNNs are further improved to 9.1 and 3.3 times as fast as that of g‐C 3 N 4 , respectively.