from the conferences organized by TANGER Ltd.
Bulk graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) was prepared by heating of melamine at 600 oC for 2 hours. Thermogravimetric analysis showed that this temperature is optimal for the preparation of bulk g-C3N4 without unnecessary loss of the material. The characterization was performed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Specific surface area (SSA) of bulk g-C3N4 was about 23 m2g-1. In order to increase the SSA bulk g-C3N4 was exfoliated into nanosheets by heating at 500 oC for 4 hours and by ultrasonication in an aqueous dispersion for 1 hour. The SSA increased at 157 m2g-1 by the heating and at 54 m2g-1 by ultrasonication. XRD revealed the layered structure of bulk g-C3N4 as well as of both exfoliated g-C3N4 samples.
Keywords: Graphitic carbon nitride, exfoliation, nanosheets© This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.