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An instant, biocompatible and biodegradable high-performance graphitic carbon nitride

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  • Shifei Kang, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology
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  • Zirou Fang, Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, 200093 Shanghai, PR China.
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  • Maofen He, Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, 200093 Shanghai, PR China.
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  • Mengya Chen, Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, 200093 Shanghai, PR China.
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  • Yuqiong Gao, Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, 200093 Shanghai, PR China.
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  • Di Sun, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine
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  • Yanfei Liu, Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, 200093 Shanghai, PR China.
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  • Menglin Chen
  • Mingdong Dong
  • Ping Liu, Department of Materials Science & Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, 200093 Shanghai, PR China. Electronic address: liuping@usst.edu.cn.
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  • Lifeng Cui, Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, 200093 Shanghai, PR China; Department of Materials Science & Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, 200093 Shanghai, PR China. Electronic address: lifeng.cui@gmail.com.

Polymer graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) materials have attracted growing interest owing to their impressive applicability in photocatalysis and optoelectronic devices. However, further applications of g-C3N4 materials are greatly restricted by their chemical inertness and insolubility in most solvents. Regarding the rising prospect of g-C3N4 nanosheets in the biomedicalfield, high solubility and biocompatibility are required for the further development of g-C3N4 materials. In this study, a simple one-step thermal polymerization method was designed to prepare fast-soluble mesoporous g-C3N4 nanosheets by using NH4HSO4 as the critical adjuvant. The products, especially the optimal g-C3N4 NSs-4, showed impressive solubility, biocompatibility and partial biodegradability. The enriched surface hydrophilic groups (-NH2 and -OH) may contribute to improving the solubility of g-C3N4 nanosheets, while the partial biodegradability can be ascribed to the presence of the disulfide bond in the g-C3N4 framework. In this system, the NH4HSO4 adjuvant acted not only as O and S sources, but also as a bubbling agent that endows the g-C3N4 a porous structure with greatly enlarged specific surface area and high separation efficiency of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. These integrative positive factors also greatly contributed to the photocatalytic activity of the g-C3N4 nanosheets. This facile, economic and general fabrication strategy for mesoporous, fast-soluble and biocompatible g-C3N4 with superior visible-light photocatalytic activity is promising in environmental, energy and biomedical fields.

Original languageEnglish
JournalJournal of Colloid and Interface Science
Volume563
Pages (from-to)336-346
Number of pages11
ISSN0021-9797
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2020

Bibliographical note

Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

    Research areas

  • Biocompatible, Biodegradable, Fast-soluble, Graphitic carbon nitride, NH HSO

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