Abstract:

Since Fujishima and Honda demonstrated the photoelectrochemical water splitting on TiO₂ photoanode and Pt counter electrode, photocatalysis has been considered as one of the most promising technologies for solving both the problems of environmental pollution and energy shortage. This process can effectively use solar energy, the most abundant energy resource on the earth, to drive various catalytic reactions, such as water splitting, CO₂ reduction, organic pollutant degradation, and organic synthesis, for energy generation and environmental purification. Except for the various metal-based semiconductors, such as metal oxides, metal sulfides, and metal oxynitrides, developed for photocatalysis, graphitic carbon nitride (g-C₃N₄) has attracted significant attention in the recent years because of its earth abundancy, non-toxicity, good stability, and relatively narrow band gap (2.7 eV) for visible light response. However, g-C₃N₄ suffers from insufficient absorption of visible light in the solar spectrum and rapid recombination of photogenerated electrons and holes, thus resulting in low photocatalytic activity. Until now, various strategies have been developed to enhance the photocatalytic activity of g-C₃N₄, including element doping, nanostructure and heterostructure design, and co-catalyst decoration. Among these methods, element doping has been found to be very effective for adjusting the unique electronic and molecular structures of g-C₃N₄, which could significantly expand the range of photoresponse under visible light and improve the charge separation. Especially, non-metal doping has been well investigated frequently to improve the photocatalytic activity of g-C₃N₄. The non-metal dopants commonly used for the doping of g-C₃N₄ include oxygen (O), phosphorus (P), sulfur (S), boron (B), and halogen (F, Cl, Br, I) and also carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) (for self-doping), as they are easily accessible and can be introduced into the g-C₃N₄ framework through different physical and chemical synthetic methods. In this review article, the structural and optical properties of g-C₃N₄ is introduced first, followed by a brief introduction to the modification of g-C₃N₄ as photocatalysts. Then, the progress in the non-metal doped g-C₃N₄ with improved photocatalytic activity is reviewed in detail, with the photocatalytic mechanisms presented for easy understanding of the fundamentals of photocatalysis and for guiding in the design of novel g-C₃N₄ photocatalysts. Finally, the prospects of the modification of g-C₃N₄ for further advances in photocatalysis is presented.

Key words: Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C₃N₄), Non-metal doping, Photocatalysis, Band structure, Electronic structure