Schematic of the electron transport from g-C₃N₄to the CdS nanoparticles and RGO sheets during RhB photodegradation.

A one-dimensional (1D) nanostructure having a porous network is an exceptional photocatalytic material to generate hydrogen (H₂) and decontaminate wastewater using solar energy. In this report, we synthesized nanoporous 1D microrods of graphitic carbon nitride (g-C₃N₄) via a facile and template-free chemical approach at room temperature. The use of concentrated acids induced etching and lift-off because of strong oxidation and protonation. Compared with the bulk g-C₃N₄, the porous 1D microrod structure showed five times higher photocatalytic degradation performance toward methylene blue dye (MB) under visible light irradiation. The photocatalytic H₂ evolution of the 1D nanostructure (34 μmol g⁻¹) was almost 26 times higher than that of the bulk g-C₃N₄ structure (1.26 μmol g⁻¹). Additionally, the photocurrent stability of this nanoporous 1D morphology over 24 h indicated remarkable photocorrosion resistance. The improved photocatalytic activities were attributed to prolonged carrier lifetime because of its quantum confinement effect, effective separation and transport of charge carriers, and increased number of active sites from interconnected nanopores throughout the microrods. The present 1D nanostructure would be highly suited for photocatalytic water purification as well as water splitting devices. Finally, this facile and room temperature strategy to fabricate the nanostructures is very cost-effective.

Highly stable plasmonic potocatalysts based on Au, graphitic carbon nitride (g-C₃N₄), and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) hybrids for effective degradation of organic pollutant and photoelectrchemical (PEC) water splitting.

Visible light-active bismuth oxychloride–reduced graphene oxide (BiOCl–RGO) composite photocatalysts were synthesised using a hydrothermal method at low temperature, and at a low cost. This approach reduced the recombination of electron–hole pairs and thereby provided more efficient photocatalysts. The size of BiOCl structure was controlled by polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) addition. Furthermore, formation of nanosized BiOCl sheets and BiOCl–RGO composites were confirmed by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, field-emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and Raman spectroscopy. Fabricated BiOCl–RGO composite with PVP exhibited better photocatalytic activity than pure BiOCl grown with and without PVP towards degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB). It was found that the composite photocatalyst degrades RhB completely within 310 min as compared with several hours for pure BiOCl. The improved photocatalytic performance of BiOCl–RGO composite was attributed to its high specific surface area (22.074 m² g⁻¹ and existence of polar surfaces, compared with 9.831 m² g⁻¹ for pure BiOCl). The analyses indicated that RGO helped to reduce recombination losses and improve electron transport. It also showed that presence of polar surfaces improved photocatalytic activity of BiOCl. Hence, BiOCl–RGO composite is a promising catalyst for the degradation of organic pollutants under visible light and could be used in applications such as water purification devices.

Aligned 1D ZnO/g-C ₃ N ₄ films were fabricated by simple refluxing with thermal vapor condensation for rapid charge separation and recyclable test.

The engineered high aspect ratio of Fe₂O₃ nanorods coated with g-C₃N₄ demonstrates z-scheme mechanism, showing the best performance in 4-nitrophenol photodegradation and H₂ evolution.