(524d) Facile Synthesis of Soft-Templated Carbon Nitrides with High Surface Area and Porosity

With high physicochemical stability, a band gap in the visible region, and basic site moieties, carbon nitrides are attractive metal-free semiconductor and catalytic candidates for a variety of applications. However, the tendency of carbon nitrides to form extended sheets limits their surface area (~10 m²/g) and porosity (<0.1 cm³/g), thus impeding their performance as catalysts. Hard templating approaches can effectively introduce porosity and increase the surface area of carbon nitrides, but they require multiple steps and hazardous reagents (e.g., HF) for template removal. In this talk, we present a facile soft-templating synthesis of high surface area (140-270 m²/g) carbon nitrides containing both meso- and macropores (total 0.4-0.8 cm³/g), while maintaining an overall low C/N ratio (0.70-0.78 at/at). Interesting morphologies like tubular and sponge-like arise, in contrast to the sheet-like structures that are more commonly observed for carbon nitrides. These textural and morphological features are achieved by taking advantage of the interaction between the melamine cyanurate adduct and surfactant (Triton X-100, Pluronic F-127, and Pluronic P-123), during both the synthesis and the thermal treatment in N₂ at 500 C. Compared to bulk melamine-derived carbon nitride, the synthesized carbon nitrides show improved light absorption and enhanced photocatalytic performance in a Rhodamine B dye degradation under visible light irradiation.