title: A Facile Steam Reforming Strategy to Delaminate Layered Carbon Nitride Semiconductors for Photoredox Catalysis.
abstract: The delamination of layered crystals that produces single or few-layered nanosheets while enabling exotic physical and chemical properties, particularly for semiconductor functions in optoelectronic applications, remains a challenge. Here, we report a facile and green approach to prepare few-layered polymeric carbon nitride (PCN) semiconductors by a one-step carbon/nitrogen steam reforming reaction. Bulky PCN, obtained from typical precursors including urea, melamine, dicyandiamide, and thiourea, are exfoliated into few-layered nanosheets, while engineering its surface carbon vacancies. The unique sheet structures with strengthened surface properties endow PCNs with more active sites, and an increased charge separation efficiency with a prolonged charge lifetime, drastically promoting their photoredox performance. After an assay of a H2evolution reaction, an apparent quantum yield of 11.3 % at 405 nm was recorded for the PCN nanosheets, which is much higher than those of PCN nanosheets. This delamination method is expandable to other carbon-based 2D materials for advanced applications.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Photocatalysis on Energy and Environment, College of Chemistry, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350116, China.|State Key Laboratory of Coal Conversion, Institute of Coal Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Taiyuan, 030001, China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
authors.forename: Pengju
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Photocatalysis on Energy and Environment, College of Chemistry, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350116, China.
authors.forename: Honghui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ou
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Photocatalysis on Energy and Environment, College of Chemistry, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350116, China.
authors.forename: Yuanxing
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Photocatalysis on Energy and Environment, College of Chemistry, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350116, China.
authors.forename: Xinchen
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
keywords: carbon nitride; hydrogen; nanosheets; photocatalysis; steam reforming