Hydrothermal synthesis of oxidized g-C3N4 and its regulation of photocatalytic activity

Abstract

Gradual oxidation of g-C₃N₄ was carried out using a mild hydrothermal method to obtain oxidized g-C₃N₄ (CNO). Besides occurring as N–O, oxygen also occurs in CNO as CO and C–O, all of which are of electron-withdrawing character and play a significant role in improving the photocatalytic performances of CNO materials. The photocurrent response of g-C₃N₄ treated for 12 hours, denoted as CNO-12, is ca. 10 times higher than that of raw g-C₃N₄, while the photocatalytic activity of CNO-12 is ca. 7 times higher than that of g-C₃N₄ in the degradation of Acid Orange 7.