Synthesis of porous carbon-doped g-C3N4 nanosheets with enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity

The porous carbon-doped g-C3N4 nanosheets photocatalysts (NSs-APAM) were synthesized using anionic polyacrylamide (APAM) as the intercalator and carbon source via the thermal treatment method. The as-prepared samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Atomic force microscopy (AFM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), nitrogen adsorption, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), UV-vis diffuse reflectance absorption spectra (UV-DRS) and photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL). The results indicate that the APAM can effectively induce the formation of high-quality nanosheets (NSs) with narrowed bandgap. The specific surface area of NSs-APAM is 118.6 m(2)/g, which is 5-fold larger than bulk g-C3N4. The carbon doping could narrow the bandgap, from 2.75 eV of g-C3N4 NSs without carbon doping (NSs-Water) to 2.41 eV of NSs-APAM. The two-dimensional NSs structure facilitates the charge separation by shortening the diffusion distance to the surface of photocatalysts. The synergic effects of the carbon doping and unique structural properties contributed to the superior photocatalytic activity of NSs-APAM with 95% degradation rate towards X-3B after 30 min visible-light irradiation. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.