In recent years, conjugated polymers such as graphitic Carbon Nitride (g-C3N4) attracts major attention to the researchers for the harnessing of renewable energy and environmental remediation through photocatalytic water splitting. Its moderate electronic band gap structure helps to absorb large spectrum of abundant solar radiation for the generation of hydrogen, a high density chemical energy source, by water splitting method. Its outstanding physicochemical stability makes it a reliable energy conversion material. Another key attribute to the researchers is the simple way of synthesizing pristine g-C3N4 and its nanocomposite structures modified with metallic and non-metallic materials. g-C3N4 can be synthesized in both chemical and physical process. In this work, the superiority in structural, optical and photocatalytic property observed in physically developed g-C3N4 over chemically synthesized g-C3N4 has been discussed and based on such studies, a suitable synthesis method has been proposed.
We present here results of our first principles studies of the sulfur doping effects on the electronic and geometric structures of graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4). Using the Ab initio thermodynamics approach combined with some kinetic analysis, we reveal the favorable S-doping configurations By analyzing the valence charge densities of the doped and un-doped systems, we find that sulfur partially donates its px- and py- electrons to the system with some back donation to the S pz-states. To obtain accurate description of the excited electronic states, we calculate the electronic structure of …
Photocatalytic nitrogen reduction is the promising way for ammonia production, the question now is that the search of highly active and low active catalysts. Based on the first-principles calculation, single boron atom is anchored on the g-C$_2$N to form B/g-C$_2$N, the results show that B/g-C$_2$N can serve as a potential photocatalyst for N$_2$ fixation. The introduction of B atom to g-C$_2$N, the energy gap will reduce from 2.45 eV to 1.21 eV, and also show strong absorption in the visible light region. In addition, N$_2$ can be efficiently reduced on B/g-C$_2$N through the enzymatic mechan…
The heptazine-based polymer melon (also known as graphitic carbon nitride, g-C3N4), is a promising photocatalyst for hydrogen evolution. Nonetheless, attempts to improve its inherently low activity are rarely based on rational approaches due to a lack of fundamental understanding of its mechanistic operation. Here, we employ molecular heptazine-based model catalysts to identify the cyanamide moiety as a photocatalytically relevant "defect". We exploit this knowledge for the rational design of a carbon nitride polymer populated with cyanamide groups, yielding a material with 12- and 16-times th…
Recently, Bafekry et al. [Appl. Phys. Lett. 119, 142102 (2021)] reported their density functional theory (DFT) results on the elastic constants of a novel C6N7 monolayer. They predicted a very soft elastic modulus of 36.29 GPa for the C6N7 monolayer, which is remarkably low for carbon-nitride 2D lattices. Using DFT calculations, we predict a remarkably higher elastic modulus of 267 GPa for this monolayer. The maximum tensile strength is also predicted to be 20.5 GPa, revealing the outstanding mechanical properties of the C6N7 monolayer.
Based on first principles calculations, this study reveals that magnetism in otherwise non-magnetic materials can originate from the partial occupation of antibonding states. Since the antibonding wavefunctions are spatially antisymmetric, the spin wavefunctions should be symmteric according to the exchange antisymmetric principle of quantum mechanics. We demonstrate that this phenomenon can be observed in a graphitic carbon nitride material, $g$-C$_4$N$_3$, which can be experimentally synthesized and seen as a honeycomb structure with a vacancy. Three dangling bonds of N atoms pointing to the…
Graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets are among 2D attractive materials due to presenting unusual physicochemical properties.Nevertheless, no adequate information exists about their mechanical and thermal properties. Therefore, we used classical molecular dynamics simulations to explore the thermal conductivity and mechanical response of two main structures of single-layer triazine-basedg-C3N4 films.By performing uniaxial tensile modeling, we found remarkable elastic modulus of 320 and 210 GPa, and tensile strength of 47 GPa and 30 GPa for two different structures of g-C3N4sheets. Using equilibr…
Predictive first-principles calculations suggest graphitic-like GaN to be theoretically possible. Thus far, it has not been experimentally reported. We report on GaN monolayer in a buckled geometry obtained in confinement at graphene/SiC interface by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). Conductive atomic force microscopy (C-AFM) has been employed to probe vertical current injection through the graphene/SiC interface and to establish the uniformity of the intercalated areas. Scanning transmission electron microscopy (S/TEM) has been employed for atomic resolution imaging and spectros…
In this work, we report on the exciton radiative lifetimes of graphitic carbon nitride monolayers in the triazine- (gC$_3$N$_4$-t) and heptazine-based (gC$_3$N$_4$-h) forms, as obtained by means of ground- plus excited-state ab initio calculations. By analysing the exciton fine structure, we highlight the presence of dark states and show that the photo-generated electron-hole pairs in gC$_3$N$_4$-h are remarkably long-lived, with an effective radiative lifetime of 260 ns. This fosters the employment of gC$_3$N$_4$-h in photocatalysis and makes it attractive for the emerging field of exciton de…
We reveal the existence of stacking-dependent spatial(SDS) charge separation in graphitic carbonic nitride (g-C3N4) layers, with the density functional theory (DFT) calculations. In g-C3N4 bilayers, such SDS charge separation is found in particular effective for top valence bands that can drive electrons 100% away from one layer to the other. However, for bottom conduction ones, it results in little charge redistribution between layers. As spatial charge separation naturally suppresses the electron-hole recombination, that makes g-C3N4 layers with proper stacking much more efficient for harves…
Density-functional theory calculations with spin-polarized generalized gradient approximation and Hubbard $U$ correction is carried out to investigate the mechanical, structural, electronic and magnetic properties of graphitic heptazine with embedded $\mathrm{Fe}$ atom under bi-axial tensile strain and applied perpendicular electric field. It was found that the binding energy of heptazine with embedded $\mathrm{Fe}$ atom system decreases as more tensile strain is applied and increases as more electric field strength is applied. Our calculations also predict a band gap at a peak value of 5 tens…
The widely used crystal structures for both heptazine-based and triazine-based two-dimensional (2D) graphitic carbon nitride (g-C$_3$N$_4$) are the flat P-6m2 configurations. However, the experimentally synthesized 2D g-C$_3$N$_4$ possess thickness ranging in 0.2-0.5 nm, indicating that the theoretically used flat P-6m2 configurations are not the correct ground states. In this work, we propose three new corrugated structures P321, P3m1 and Pca21 with energies of 66 (86), 77 (87) and 78 (89) meV/atom lower than that of the corresponding heptazine-based (triazine-based) g-C$_3$N$_4$ in flat P-6m…
Converting solar energy into chemical energy by splitting water is a promising means to generate a sustainable and renewable solution without detrimental environmental impact. The two-dimensional semiconductors serve as potential catalysts in this regard, and here we combine Janus transition-metal dichalcogenides (MoXY, X/Y = S, Se, Te) and graphitic carbon nitride in a van der Waals heterostructure. Within the first-principles calculations, we investigate the electronic, optical and excitonic properties that determine the photocatalytic activity. Due to the internal electric field, the photog…
Very recently, it has been shown that an abundant material, polymeric carbon nitride, can produce hydrogen from water under visible-light irradiation in the presence of a sacrificial donor [1]. We will present here the preparation and characterization of graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) films on semiconducting substrates by thermal condensation of dicyandiamide precursor under inert gas conditions. Structural and surface morphological studies of the carbon nitride films suggest a high porosity of g-C3N4 thin film consisting of a network of nanocrystallites. Photo-electrochemical investigation…
In the present work, a simple strategy is used to thermally oxidize TiN nanopowder (ca. 20 nm) to an anatase phase of a TiO2:Ti3+:N compound. In contrast to the rutile phase of such a compound this photocatalyst provides photocatalytic activity for hydrogen evolution under AM1.5 conditions - this without the use of any noble metal co-catalyst. Moreover the photocatalyst is active and stable over extended periods of time (tested for 4 months). Importantly, to achieve successful conversion to the active anatase polymorph, sufficiently small starting particles of TiN are needed. The key factor fo…
We study the effect of boron (B) and Phosphorous (P) co-doping on electronic and optical properties of graphitic carbon nitride (g-C$_3$N$_4$ or GCN) monolayer using density functional simulations. The energy band structure indicates that the incorporation of B and P into a hexagonal lattice of GCN reduces the energy band gap from $3.1$ for pristine GCN to $1.9$ eV, thus extending light absorption toward the visible region. Moreover, on the basis of calculating absorption spectra and dielectric function, the co-doped system exhibits an improved absorption intensity in the visible region and mo…
We present an ab-initio study of boron nitride as well as carbon allotropes. Their relative thermodynamic stabilities and structural phase transitions from low- to high-density phases are investigated. Pressure-temperature phase diagrams are calculated and compared to experimental findings. The calculations are performed using quantum chemical wavefunction based as well as density functional theories. Our findings reveal that predicted energy differences often depend significantly on the choice of the employed method. Comparison between calculated and experimental results allows for benchmarki…
A first-principles study of the adsorption of a single water molecule on a layer of graphitic carbon nitride employing an embedding approach is presented. The embedding approach involves an algorithm to obtain localized Wannier orbitals of various types expanded in a plane-wave basis and intrinsic atomic orbital projectors. The localized occupied orbitals are employed in combination with unoccupied natural orbitals to perform many-electron perturbation theory calculations of local fragments. The fragments are comprised of a set of localized orbitals close to the adsorbed water molecule. Althou…
Novel superhard materials, especially those with superior thermal and chemical stability, are needed to replace diamond. Carbon nitrides (C-N), which are likely to possess these charac- teristics and have even been expected to be harder than diamond, are excellent candidates. Here we report three new superhard and thermodynamically stable carbon nitride phases. Based on a systematic evolutionary structure searches, we report a complete phase diagram of the C-N system at 0-300 GPa and analyze the hardest metastable structures. Surprising- ly, we find that at zero pressure, the earlier proposed …
We use ab intio density functional theory to investigate the adsorption properties of acetylsalicylic acid or aspirin on a (10, 0) carbon nanotube (CNT) and a (8, 0) triazine-based graphitic carbon nitride nanotube (CNNT). It is found that an aspirin molecule binds stronger to the CNNT with its adsorption energy of 0.67 eV than to the CNT with 0.51 eV. The stronger adsorption energy on the CNNT is ascribed to the high reactivity of its N atoms with high electron affinity. The CNNT exhibits local electric dipole moments, which cause strong charge redistribution in the aspirin molecule adsorbed …
Carbon nitride compounds have emerged recently as a prominent member of 2D materials beyond graphene. The experimental realizations of 2D graphitic carbon nitride g-C$_3$N$_4$, nitrogenated holey grahpene C$_2$N, polyaniline C$_3$N have shown their promising potential in energy and environmental applications. In this work, we predict a new type of carbon nitride network with a C$_9$N$_4$ stoichiometry from first principle calculations. Unlike common C-N compounds and covalent organic frameworks (COFs), which are typically insulating, surprisingly C$_9$N$_4$ is found to be a 2D nodal-line semim…
Results based on {\em ab initio} density functional calculations indicate a general graphitization tendency in ultrathin slabs of cubic diamond, boron nitride, and many other cubic structures including rocksalt. Whereas such compounds often show an energy preference for cubic rather than layered atomic arrangements in the bulk, the surface energy of layered systems is commonly lower than that of their cubic counterparts. We determine the critical slab thickness for a range of systems, below which a spontaneous conversion from a cubic to a layered graphitic structure occurs, driven by surface e…
The recent experimental synthesis of 2D graphitic C3N5 has attracted lot of interests in its electronic and optical properties and its comparison with other graphitic C3N4 and C3N3. To this end, we performed DFT calculations using more accurate HSE06 functional and estimated the corresponding electronic properties. From a comparative study of the band structures of C3N3, C3N4, and C3N5, we found that, the electronic band-gap decreases as 3.24 eV (C3N3) > 2.81 eV (C3N4) > 2.19 eV (C3N5) with increase in the number of nitrogen atoms in the unit cell of these graphitic carbon nitrides. Further, t…
A new set of lattice-models based on the hexagonal $\sqrt{N}\times\sqrt{N}$ super-cells of the well-known honeycomb lattice with single-hole defect (HL-D-1/2N) are proposed to realize the nontrivial isolated flat-bands. Through performing both tight-binding and density functional theory calculations, we demonstrate that the experimentally realized graphitic carbon nitride (Adv. Mater., 22, 1004, 2010; Nat. Commun., 9, 3366, 2018), the HL-D-1/8 based C$_4$N$_3$, is a perfect system to host such flat bands. For the flat high-energy P-6m2 C$_4$N$_3$ structure, it displays the ferromagnetic half-m…
The supramolecular preorganization approach can be applied to effectively fabricate various morphologies of graphitic carbon nitride(g-CN)with improved photocatalytic activity, while a comprehensive understanding for the morphology evolution from supramolecular aggregates to g-CNs is lacking. Herein, 3D characterizations from electron tomography provide a fundamental insight on the evolution from rod-like melamine-cyanuric acid(MC)complex to hollow-structure g-CN in the thermal polycondensation process. The internal region and a group of surfaces of the rod-like complex initially underwent pol…
Metal-free heteroatom doping of carbon nitride for enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen peroxide production
University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU)（巴斯克地区大学）；BCMaterials, Basque Center for Materials, Applications and Nanostructures（BC材料中心，巴斯克材料、应用与纳米结构中心）；Institute of Low Temperature and Structural Research PAS（波兰科学院低温结构研究所）；Graphene Energy Ltd.（石墨烯能源有限公司）；IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science（伊克尔巴斯基克，巴斯克科学基金会）；Physics Centre of Minho and Porto Universities (CF-UM-UP) and Laboratory of Physics for Materials and Emergent Technologies (LapMET), University of Minho（米尼奥和波尔图大学物理中心及米尼奥大学材料与新兴技术物理实验室）
Carbon nitride two-dimensional (2D) materials are among the most attractive class of nanomaterials, with wide range of application prospects. As a continuous progress, most recently, two novel carbon nitride 2D lattices of C3N5 and C3N4 have been successfully experimentally realized. Motivated by these latest accomplishments and also by taking into account the well-known C3N4 triazine-based graphitic carbon nitride structures, we predicted two novel C3N6 and C3N4 counterparts. We then conducted extensive density functional theory simulations to explore the thermal stability, mechanical, electr…
Terahertz-permittivity of Carbon Nitrides: Revealing humidity-enhanced dielectric properties on the picosecond timescales relevant for charge carrier photogeneration
In this chapter we review our findings on the bonding structure and growth mechanisms of carbon-based thin solid films with fullerene-like (FL) microstructure. The so-called FL arrangements arise from the curvature and cross-linking of basal planes in graphitic-like structures, partially resembling that of molecular fullerenes. This three-dimensional superstructure takes advantage of the strength of planar pi bonds in sp2 hybrids and confers the material interesting mechanical properties, such as high hardness, high elastic recovery, low-friction and wear-resistance. These properties can be ta…
