Engineering g-C3N4 based materials for advanced photocatalysis: Recent advances

Abstract

Photocatalysis driven by abundant yet intermittent solar energy has considerable potential in renewable energy generation and environmental remediation. The outstanding electronic structure and physicochemical properties of graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4), together with unique metal-free characteristic, make them ideal candidates for advanced photocatalysts construction. This review summarizes the up-to-date advances on g-C3N4 based photocatalysts from ingenious-design strategies and diversified photocatalytic applications. Notably, the advantages, fabrication methods and limitations of each design strategy are systemically analyzed. In order to deeply comprehend the inner connection of theory–structure–performance upon g-C3N4 based photocatalysts, structure/composition designs, corresponding photocatalytic activities and reaction mechanisms are jointly discussed, associated with introducing their photocatalytic applications toward water splitting, carbon dioxide/nitrogen reduction and pollutants degradation, etc. Finally, the current challenges and future perspectives for g-C3N4 based materials for photocatalysis are briefly proposed. These design strategies and limitations are also instructive for constructing g-C3N4 based materials in other energy and environment-related applications.

Keywords

• Graphitic carbon nitride
• g-C3N4
• Design strategies
• Photocatalysis
• Photocatalysts
• Reaction mechanism