A facile single‐step approach to achieve in situ expanded <scp>g‐C<sub>3</sub>N<sub>4</sub></scp> for improved photodegradation performance
V. P. Madhurima, Kusum Kumari, Prashant K. Jain
Abstract
Abstract Improved graphitic carbon nitride (g‐C 3 N 4 ) was synthesized through a unique one‐step cost‐effective technique involving a dynamic gas bubbling phenomenon using ammonium chloride (NH 4 Cl) as a bubbling agent. An extensive investigation was carried out to optimize the weight ratio of NH 4 Cl and melamine during the thermal pyrolysis process. Here, we report an improved form of g‐C 3 N 4 namely “expanded g‐C 3 N 4 ” with increased interlayer distance and remarkable volume expansion. The surface area of this improved version has notably increased leading to higher photocatalytic efficiency as compared with its counterpart, an synthesized without adding NH 4 Cl. Synthesized photocatalyst materials were further used to study the Rhodamine B photodegradation under visible light. It was observed that the expanded g‐C 3 N 4 showed a 2.4 times higher photodegradation rate than its counterpart and degraded 94% of the dye in just 30 min.