Scalable Synthesis of Ultrathin g-C3N4 Nanosheets with Enhanced Photocatalytic Activities via High Shear Exfoliation

Abstract

High-shear mixing was demonstrated as an effective approach for the green synthesis of ultrathin g-C3N4 nanosheets with excellent photocatalytic performance. The resultant nanosheets were characterized in terms of morphology, crystal structure, electronic structure and photocatalytic behavior. It was found that the g-C3N4 nanosheets mainly consist of one C-N layer with a thickness about 0.7 nm. The products show a band gap of 2.6 eV and exhibit high photocatalytic activities with almost 4 times higher than their bulk counterparts toward RhB degradation. With the yield as high as 20 %, the present simple route may be qualified as a promising candidate for the mass production of high quality g-C3N4 nanosheets.