UV-Vis-NIR full-range-responsive carbon-rich carbon nitride nanotubes for enhanced photocatalytic performance

Abstract

As a star photocatalyst, graphitic carbon nitride has been widely used in environmental remediation and energy conversion. However, graphitic carbon nitride still has some distinct shortcomings, such its utilization of light is low, which makes it difficult to capture photons in the near-infrared region (NIR) effectively. In recent years, researchers have designed photocatalysts from the aspects of the morphology, reaction system optimization, and long wavelength photonic activation mechanism. More and more studies have reported the use of ultraviolet-visible-near-infrared (UV-Vis-NIR) for solar–chemical energy conversion. Here, narrowed bandgap carbon nitride nanotubes (called R-CN) were prepared by a hydrothermal–thermal polymerization, with a bandgap of 2.72 eV and its absorption wavelength extended to 620 nm. In the near-infrared region, the feature of R-CN, efficient use of light greatly improved the photocatalytic efficiency, and the hydrogen production in 5 h was up to 305.44 μmol (λ > 400 nm) and 7.89 μmol (λ > 500 nm), respectively. Meanwhile, the degradation efficiency of R-CN in 10 ppm bisphenol A (BPA) reached 70 within 180 min.