Synthesis of crystalline carbon nitride with enhanced photocatalytic NO removal performance: An experimental and DFT theoretical study

The pristine carbon nitride derived from the thermally-induced polymerization of nitrogen-containing precursors (e.g. cyanamide, dicyanamide, melamine and urea) displays low crystallinity because of the predominantly kinetic hindrance. Herein, we reported a modified molten-salts method to fabricate the crystalline carbon nitride under ambient pressure, which is expected to the large-scale production of crystalline carbon nitride. The obtained crystalline carbon nitride displayed about 3.0 times higher photocatalytic NO removal performance than that of pristine carbon nitride under visible light irradiation (lambda < 400 nm). Detailed experimental characterization and theoretical calculation revealed the crucial roles of crystallinity in crystalline carbon nitride for the enhanced photocatalytic NO removal performance. This research provided deep insights into the crystallinity of carbon nitride for the enhanced photocatalytic performance. (C) 2021 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The editorial office of Journal of Materials Science & Technology.

Automated summary

A modified molten-salts method was reported to fabricate crystalline carbon nitride, which is expected to enable large-scale production. The obtained crystalline carbon nitride exhibited about 3.0 times higher photocatalytic NO removal performance under visible light irradiation compared to pristine carbon nitride.