Structural feature of graphene-like graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets synthesized <i>via</i> high-energy microwave irradiation

Abstract

Microwave synthesis has many advantages covering rapid, high-efficient, environmentally-friendly etc. Herein, graphene-like carbon nitride nanosheets (g-C3N4-NS) were successfully prepared by high-energy microwave heating method using melamine and carbon fibers as precursor and microwave absorber, respectively. The as-synthesized samples were investigated via various analytic techniques including X-ray diffraction (XRD), field-emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). Results show that the g-C3N4-NS sample prepared by microwave heating exhibits the obvious feature of graphene-like ultra-thin nanosheets in comparison with sample synthesized by conventional thermal polycondensation. Meanwhile, compared with graphene-like carbon nitride nanosheets prepared by other approaches including ultrasonic exfoliation and oxidation etching methods, the sample synthesized by microwave heating has smooth, flat and strong rigidity surface.

Keywords

• microwave synthesis
• graphene-like carbon nitride nanosheet
• structural feature
• rigidity