Salt-assisted synthesis of 3D open porous g-C3N4 decorated with cyano groups for photocatalytic hydrogen evolutionElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Additional figures. See DOI: 10.1039/c7nr05927b

• Main Authors: Chen, Zhangfa, Lu, Shangchen, Wu, Qianling, He, Fang, Zhao, Naiqin, He, Chunnian, Shi, Chunsheng
• Format: Journal Article
• Published: 08.02.2018
• ISSN: 2040-3364; 2040-3372
• DOI: 10.1039/c7nr05927b

Three-dimensional open porous graphitic carbon nitride with cyano groups (3D OPG-C 3 N 4 -CN) has been fabricated by a facile two-step process that combines NaCl-assisted freeze-drying with calcination. NaCl not only works as a template for the 3D open porous structure, but also facilitates the decomposition of g-C 3 N 4 around 500 °C to some extent. Meanwhile, a moderate amount of cyano groups acting as electron capture centers are introduced at the edge of the 3D open porous g-C 3 N 4 during the formation process. Compared with bulk g-C 3 N 4 without NaCl assistance, the 3D OPG-C 3 N 4 -CN exhibits improved light absorption, reduced carrier recombination and more active sites. As a result, the enhanced hydrogen production of 3D OPG-C 3 N 4 -CN reaches up to 1590 μmol h −1 g −1 when using Pt as a cocatalyst, which is about six times as much as that of the bulk g-C 3 N 4 . Three-dimensional open porous graphitic carbon nitride with cyano groups (3D OPG-C 3 N 4 -CN) has been fabricated by a facile two-step process that combines NaCl-assisted freeze-drying with calcination.