Center of Nanomaterials for Renewable Energy, State Key Laboratory of Electrical Insulation and Power Equipment, School of Electrical Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China
Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) is one of the most promising photocatalytic materials due to its unique electronic structure, visible light response, and excellent chemical stability. Whereas, the practical applications of pristine g-C3N4 in photocatalysis are still facing with huge challenges, such as poor specific surface area，low electronic conductivity, insufficient visible light absorption, and fast recombination of photoinduced charge carriers. Lots of research works have been carried out to improve the photocatalytic performance and extend the applications of g-C3N4, and many exciting progresses have been gained. In this work, we summarized the research status of g-C3N4 in the field of photocatalysis. The modified strategies based on gC3N4 were discussed, including molecular structure engineering, morphology control, co-catalyst deposition, heterostructure and homostructure construction. Then, the multifunctional applications of g-C3N4 based materials in photocatalysis including H2 evolution, pollutant removal, CO2 reduction and organic synthesis were reviewed, and the opportunities and challenges for the development of high-performance g-C3N4 based materials were prospected.