1. H2 Production
Hydrogen is gathering strong momentum as a pivotal energy transition pillar driven by the global shift toward decarbonization. Nevertheless, 85% of H
2 is produced from fossil fuel combustion, which generates roughly 500 metric tons of carbon dioxide every year and proffers a challenge and obstacle toward the sustainable living of future generations
[1]. Solar-driven photocatalytic H
2 generation as a promising technology has received extensive attention in addressing the global energy crisis
[2][3]. Photocatalytic water splitting for the energy transformation from solar to eco-friendly fuels has been studied for decades with various semiconductor photocatalysts. As a type of semiconductor photocatalyst, g-C
3N
4 is simple and inexpensive to fabricate, and has an adequate bandgap (≈2.7 eV) for activation upon sunlight irradiation. Wang’s group first utilized g-C
3N
4 in photocatalytic H
2 evolution
[4][5]. Nonetheless, pristine g-C
3N
4 is far from satisfactory energy conversion because of its low light energy utilization, low density active sites, and ineffective isolation of the photogenerated excitons. Thus, researchers have proposed numerous strategies to boost the photocatalytic activity of g-C
3N
4-based materials for H
2 production. For example, the g-C
3N
4/carbon-dot-based nanocomposites, which possess enormous visible light absorption and applicable energy structures, have been prepared and serve as efficacious photocatalysts in photocatalytic water splitting for H
2 generation under light illumination
[3][6][7][8]. Gao et al. reported hexagonal tubular g-C
3N
4/CD-based nanocomposites which exhibited nine times higher than bulk g-C
3N
4 in H
2 production rate
[3] and related results indicated that CDs performed as both photosensitizer and electron acceptor. CDs could absorb long wavelength light to extend the visible-light response region and suppress the recombination of electron-hole pairs. Hussien et al.
[9] combined four different strategies (non-metal doping, porosity generation, functionalization with amino groups, and thermal oxidation etching) in a one-pot thermal reaction and successfully prepared amino-functionalized ultrathin nanoporous B-doped g-C
3N
4 by using NH
4Cl as a gas bubble template, together with a thermal exfoliation process to produce ultrathin sheets. According to the process, the surface area, adsorption capacity, and charge migration of the as-prepared photocatalyst have been improved, and a 3800 µmol g
−1 h
−1 H
2 generation rate and 10.6% prominent quantum yield were recorded. Li et al.
[10] decorated carbon self-doping g-C
3N
4 nanosheets with gold-platinum (AuPt) nanocrystals through a photo-deposition route and compared the photocatalytic H
2 evolution performance of Pt/CCN, Au/CCN, Au/Pt/CCN, and Pt/Au/CCN, in which AuPt/CCN stood out and gave the highest H
2 generation rate (1135 μmol h
−1). The excellent performance can be ascribed to the non-plasmon-related synergistic effect of Au and Pt atoms in AuPt nanocrystals. Sun et al.
[11] assessed the arrangements of metal- and non-metal-modified g-C
3N
4 composites in hydrogen evolution and found that the contribution of dye conjugation in non-metallic g-C
3N
4 composites favored their performance. However, the co-catalyst doping strategy was recommended for metallic g-C
3N
4 composites. In addition, the hybrid of MOF materials and g-C
3N
4 is also a good approach to develop novel photocatalysts. For example, Devarayapalli et al.
[12] reported a g-C
3N
4/ZIF-67 nanocomposite and obtained a 2084 μmol g
−1 H
2 production, which is 3.84-fold greater than that of bare g-C
3N
4.
2. CO2 Photoreduction over g-C3N4
Rising atmospheric levels of CO
2 and the consumption of fossil fuels raise a concern about the continued reliance on the utilization of fossil fuels for both energy and chemical production
[13]. Photocatalytic reduction of CO
2 is a promising strategy to meet increasing energy needs and reduce the greenhouse effect
[14]. Through photocatalytic reduction, CO
2 can be converted to light oxygenates and hydrocarbons. Photocatalytic CO
2 reduction is a multielectron transfer process. Fu et al.
[15] have listed the possible reaction and corresponding redox potentials and stated that CO
2 was complicated to reduce at room temperature due to its stable chemical structure. For the complex reaction, five factors, comprising the matching of band energy, separation of charge carrier, kinetic of e- and hole transfer to CO
2 and reductant, the basicity of photocatalyst, and the strength and coverage of CO
2 adsorption, are considered to be crucial
[16]. As a hot member of photocatalysts, g-C
3N
4 has been applied to CO
2 photo-reduction in recent years because the CB of g-C
3N
4 is sufficient to reduce CO
2 to various hydrocarbons, such as CH
3OH, CH
4, HCHO, and HCOOH and so on.
[17].
However, metal-free g-C
3N
4 is limited for CO
2 reduction activity due to its poor ability to activate the C-O bond of CO
2. To improve the photocatalytic movement of CO
2 conversion, different metal units have been composited with g-C
3N
4 for broadening the absorption response range, and accelerating the charge separation and transfer, such as Pt/g-C
3N
4 [18], Co
2+/g-C
3N
4 [19][20], Au/g-C
3N
4 [21] and so on. Metal nanoparticles acting as cocatalysts could effectively improve the photocatalytic activity and selectivity of CO
2 reduction. In addition, other methods, including doping, loading cocatalysts and nanocarbons, constructing
Z-scheme, and heterojunction, have also been employed
[22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30]. For example, Fu et al.
[31] prepared hierarchical porous
O-doped g-C
3N
4 nanotubes (OCN-Tube) through continuing thermal oxidation exfoliation and curling condensation of bulk g-C
3N
4. Due to the higher specific surface area, better light harvesting, higher CO
2 uptake capacity, and superior separation efficiency of photogenerated charge carriers, the OCN-Tube exhibits excellent photocatalytic CO
2 reduction performance into CH
3OH. The CH
3OH evolution rate was as high as 0.88 µmol g
−1 h
−1, five times higher than the bulk (0.17 µmol g
−1 h
−1). Huo et al.
[32] fabricated amine-modified step-scheme (
S-scheme) porous g-C
3N
4/CdSe-diethylenetriamine (A-PCN/CdSe-DETA) by a one-step microwave hydrothermal method. The modification by amine and formation of
S-scheme heterojunction contributed to the remarkable photocatalytic performance of A-PCN/CdSe-DETA composite in CO
2 reduction and a CO production rate of 25.87 μmol/(h g) was achieved under visible-light irradiation. Wang et al.
[14] reviewed different modification methods of g-C
3N
4-based photocatalysts for CO
2 reduction. They discussed each method (including morphology adjustment, co-catalysts, heterostructures, and doping) and compared the theoretical calculations and experimental results. By morphology adjustment, g-C
3N
4 with various shapes can be fabricated, such as rods, tubes, nanosheets, hollow spheres, and honeycomb-like structures. Due to the advantage of cocatalysts (e.g., Au, Ag, Pt, Pd, MXene, AuCu alloy, Pd-Ag), g-C
3N
4 with co-catalysts can be widely applied to activate CO
2 on the surface. Heterojunction with different types is also an effective method to improve the properties of g-C
3N
4-based materials. In addition, elemental doping is considered a common method to enhance photocatalytic quantum efficiency by changing the energy band, surface electronic property, and electrical conductivity.
3. Degradation of Organic Pollutants
Along with rapid population growth and significant industrialization development, large numbers of toxic, hazardous, and endless contaminants invade the environment, threatening to human life, especially a variety of pollutants present in water that are difficult to eliminate or degrade naturally. Photocatalytic degradation of contaminants is a green and efficient technology for coping with sewage
[6][33]. Different kinds of g-C
3N
4-based materials (
Table 1) have been exploited to increase the photodecomposition efficiency of pollutants, such as the constructed heterojunction, loading O
2-reduction co-catalysts, g-C
3N
4/CDs-based nanocomposites, and so on
[23][34][35][36]. Generally, under the irradiation of visible light, the photogenerated electrons (e
−) on the g-C
3N
4 catalyst will be excited from VB to CB, leaving holes (h
+) in the VB. The holes can oxidize pollutants directly or react with H
2O/OH
− to form hydroxyl radicals
[37]. When the REDOX potential of g-C
3N
4 composites is more negative than O
2/O
2−, the photogenerated electrons in the material can react with O
2 to produce O
2− with strong oxidation capacity
[38]. In addition, the resulting O
2− could be protonated to produce OH
[39]. Finally, the RhB dye is degraded to CO
2 and H
2O under the action of these free radicals. Chen et al.
[40] fabricated a BiFeO
3/g-C
3N
4 heterostructure through mixing-calcining and compared its performance with BiFeO
3. Around 30% higher photocatalytic efficiency toward RhB dye was observed for the BiFeO
3/10% g-C
3N
4 heterostructure, which was assigned to the contribution of a higher concentration of O
2−. Zhang et al.
[41] studied the selective reduction of molecular oxygen on g-C
3N
4 and probed its effect on the photocatalytic phenol degradation process. Compared with bulk g-C
3N
4, the exfoliated nanosheet yielded a three times improvement in photocatalytic phenol degradation. It has been demonstrated that bulk g-C
3N
4 prefers to reduce O
2 to O
2−via one-electron reduction. At the same time, the photoexcited g-C
3N
4 nanosheet facilitates the two-electron reduction of O
2 to yield H
2O
2 because of the formation of 1,4-endoperoxide species. The two-electron reduction of O
2 on the nanosheet surface boosts hole generation and thus accelerates phenol oxidation degradation
[41][42]. Thus, to improve the photocatalytic performance of g-C
3N
4, more effort should be devoted to strengthening the solid O
2-reduction reactions. For example, Liu et al.
[43] reported a heterojunction material of K-doped g-C
3N4 nanosheet -CdS and degraded tetracycline with 94% degradation under visible light in 30 min. In addition, due to the electronegativities, ionic radius differences, and impurity states, element doping is also an effective method to manipulate the electronic structure and physicochemical performance of g-C
3N
4-based materials. Gao et al.
[44] synthesized Fe-doped g-C
3N
4 nanosheets and obtained 1.4- and 1.7-fold higher degradation rates of MB than that of pure g-C
3N
4 nanosheets and bulk g-C
3N
4, which indicated that the exploitation of efficient g-C
3N
4-based photocatalysts with high stabilization and degradation under visible light irradiation would significantly contribute to sewage disposal. Zhang et al.
[45] synthesized a novel hybrid of Zr-based metal-organic framework with g-C
3N
4 (UiO-66/g-C
3N
4) nanosheets and applied a photodegradation of methylene blue, by which a 100% photodegradation was achieved within 4 h under visible light. Here, it has been provided with a new insight into the design of g-C
3N
4-based photocatalysts to deal with organic dyes in the environment.
Table 1. Photocatalytic degradation of pollutants over g-C3N4-based materials reported within the last three years.
Entry |
Photocatalyst |
Pollutant Concentration |
Light Source |
Degradation Efficiency/% |
Ref. |
1 |
5% g-C3N4-TiO2 |
Acetaminophen: 0.033 mM |
300 W Xe (>400 nm) |
99.3 in 30 min |
[46] |
2 |
3ZIF/1.5Au-PCN |
Bisphenol A |
350 W Xe (>420 nm) |
>85% |
[47] |
3 |
Cu(tmpa)/20%CN |
Congo red: 100 mg·L−1 |
150 W Xe |
98.2% in 3 min |
[48] |
4 |
BiO-Ag(0)/C3N4@ ZIF-67 |
Congo red: 12 mg·L−1 |
Natural sunlight |
90% in 150 min |
[49] |
5 |
C3N4/RGO/Bi2Fe4O9 |
Congo red: 10 mg·L−1 |
LED 30 W |
87.65% in 60 min |
[50] |
6 |
g-C3N4/Co-MOF |
Crystal violet: 4 ppm |
MaX 303 solar simulator (50 mW/cm) |
95% in 80 min |
[12] |
7 |
Honeycomb-like g-C3N4/CeO2-x |
Cr (VI): 20 mg·L−1 |
300 W Xe (>420 nm) |
98% in 150 min |
[51] |
8 |
Sm6WO12/g-C3N4 |
Levofloxacin: 10 mg·L−1 |
150 Mw cm−2 tungsten lamp |
98% in 70 min |
[52] |
9 |
O-g/C3N4 |
Lincomycin: 100 mg·L−1 |
PCX50C system (>420 nm) |
99% within 3 h |
[53] |
10 |
ZnO-modified g-C3N4 |
Methylene blue: 10 ppm |
200 W tungsten lamp (>420 nm) |
97% in 80 min |
[54] |
11 |
Wood-like g-C3N4@WDC |
Methylene blue: 20 mg·L−1 |
300 W Xe (>400 nm) |
98% in 60 min |
[55] |
12 |
BiO-Ag(0)/C3N4@ ZIF-67 |
Methylene blue: 12 mg·L−1 |
Natural sunlight |
96.5% in 120 min |
[49] |
13 |
Cerium-based GO/g-C3N4/Fe2O3 |
Methylene blue: 10 mg·L−1 |
Light bulb |
70.61% in 45 min |
[56] |
14 |
Ytterbium oxide-based GO/g-C3N4/Fe2O3 |
Methylene blue: 10 mg·L−1 |
Light bulb |
83.5% in 45 min |
[56] |
15 |
Cu(tmpa)/20%CN |
Methylene blue: 10 mg·L−1 |
150W Xe |
92.0% within 20 min |
[48] |
16 |
C3N4x/AgOy@Co1-xBi1-yO7 |
Methylene blue: 25 mL 10 mM |
100 W tungsten bulb |
96.4% in 120 min |
[57] |
17 |
Ternary composites of Zr-MOF combined with g-C3N4 and Ag3PO4 |
Methylene blue: 10 mg·L−1 |
85-watt tungsten lamp outdoor/solar light in an open air |
95% within 240 93% within 105 min |
[58] |
18 |
PSCN/Ag@AgI/WO3 |
Malachite green: 1 × 10 −4 mol dm−3 |
35 W LED |
90% in 60 min |
[59] |
19 |
Cu(tmpa)/20%CN |
Malachite green: 30 mg·L−1 |
150W Xe |
92.9% in 35 min |
[48] |
20 |
20% g-C3N4/Bi4O5I2 |
Methyl orange: 20 mg·L−1 |
350 W Xe |
0.164 min−1 |
[60] |
21 |
Cu(tmpa)/20%CN |
Methyl violet: 10 mg·L−1 |
150W Xe |
92.0% in 60 min |
[48] |
22 |
MnCo2O4/g-C3N4 |
Nitrobenzene: 40 mg L−1 |
CMCN2/PMS system |
96.7% in 240 min |
[61] |
23 |
C3N4x/AgOy@Co1-xBi1-yO7 |
Oxytetracycline: 25 mL 25 mM |
100 W tungsten bulb |
93% in 160 min |
[57] |
24 |
g-C3N4/WO3/WS2 |
Rhodamine B: 25 mg L−1 |
300 W Xe (>420 nm) |
96.2% in 20 min |
[62] |
25 |
Flower-like Bi12TiO20/g-C3N4 |
Rhodamine B: 20 mg·L−1 |
150 mW·cm−2 Xe (>420 nm) |
100% in 30 min |
[63] |
26 |
CdS/CQDs/g-C3N4 |
Rhodamine B: 10 mg·L−1 |
300 W Xe (>420 nm) |
100% in 20 min |
[64] |
27 |
Ytterbium oxide-based GO/g-C3N4/Fe2O3 |
Rhodamine B: 10 mg·L−1 |
Light bulb |
67.11% in 45 min |
[56] |
28 |
Cerium-based GO/g-C3N4/Fe2O3 |
Rhodamine B: 10 mg·L−1 |
Light bulb |
63.08% in 45 min |
[56] |
29 |
Fish-scale g-C3N4/ZnIn2S4 |
Tetracycline: 10 mg·L−1 |
300 W Xe (>420 nm) |
74% in 30 min |
[65] |
31 |
Flower-like Co3O4/g-C3N4 |
Tetracycline: 15 mg·L−1 |
350 W Xe (>420 nm) |
85.32% in 120 min |
[66] |
31 |
10 wt% CuAl2O4/g-C3N4 |
Tetracycline hydrochloride: 100 mg·L−1 |
300 W Xe (>400 nm) |
89.6% in 60 min |
[67] |
32 |
CO-C3N4 |
Tetracycline hydrochloride: 10 mg·L−1 |
300 W Xe (>420 nm) |
97.77% (PMS) in 40 min |
[68] |
33 |
ZIF-67/g-C3N4 |
Venlafaxine: 10 mg·L−1 |
- |
27.75% within 120 min |
[69] |
34 |
ZIF-67/MIL-100(Fe)/g-C3N4 |
Venlafaxine: 10 mg·L−1 |
- |
100% within 120 min |
[69] |
35 |
ZIF-67/MOF-74(Ni)/g-C3N4 |
Venlafaxine: 10 mg·L−1 |
- |
91.8% within 120 min |
[69] |