Published November 15, 2021 | Version accepted version
Journal article Open

Supramolecular organization of melem for the synthesis of photoactive porous carbon nitride rods

Creators

  • 1. Key Laboratory of Advanced Catalytic Materials and Technology, Advanced Catalysis and Green Manufacturing Collaborative Innovation Center, Changzhou University, Changzhou, Jiangsu Province 213164, China; Department of Chemistry and Ilse Katz Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva 8410501, Israel
  • 2. Department of Chemistry and Ilse Katz Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva 8410501, Israel
  • 3. State Key Laboratory of Photocatalysis on Energy and Environment College of Chemistry, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350116, China
  • 4. Key Laboratory of Advanced Catalytic Materials and Technology, Advanced Catalysis and Green Manufacturing Collaborative Innovation Center, Changzhou University, Changzhou, Jiangsu Province 213164, China

Description

Intrinsic defects and structural properties are two main factors influencing the photocatalytic performance of carbon nitride (CN) materials. Here, photoactive porous CN rods are fabricated through the thermal condensation of melem-based hexagonal supramolecular assemblies. To overcome the poor solubility of melem, we exfoliate the bulk melem using hydrochloric acid. The latter allows good dispersibility of the monomer in an aqueous medium, leading to the formation of H-bond bridged supramolecular assembly with good regularity in both size and rod-like morphology. After thermal condensation, a well-ordered structure of porous CN rods with fewer defects due to the high thermal stability of the melem-based supramolecular assembly is obtained. The new CN materials have a high specific surface area, good light-harvesting properties, and enhanced charge separation and migration. The optimal CN material exhibits excellent photocatalytic activity and durability towards hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR, with good selectivity).

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Supramolecular organization of melem for the synthesis of photoactive porous carbon nitride rods accepted with SI for Zenodopublication.pdf

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Additional details

Funding

MFreePEC – Controlled Growth of Lightweight Metal-Free Materials for Photoelectrochemical Cells 849068
European Commission