Fabrication of wide visible-light response porous graphitic carbon nitride with excellent visible light photocatalytic performance

A series of wide visible-light response porous carbon nitride (pg-C3N4) were prepared by thermal polycondensation the mixture of phenylurea, melamine and ammonia chloride. And their chemical structure, feature, optical and photoelectrochemical properties were also characterized. The photocatalytic activity was measured by degrading Rhodamine B (RhB) under visible light illumination. Its reaction rate constant of is was 9.5 times to bulk g-C3N4, and the excellent stability of photocatalytic activity and chemical structure was also kept. And the main radicals in the photodegradation process were discussed through radicals trapping experiment and electron spin-resonance spectroscopy (ESR). Finally, combined with the change of the conduction band and valence band positions, the enhanced photocatalytic performance mechanism was presented.