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Functional carbon nitride materials — design strategies for electrochemical devices

Nature Reviews Materials volume 2, Article number: 17030 (2017) Cite this article

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Abstract

In the past decade, research in the field of artificial photosynthesis has shifted from simple, inorganic semiconductors to more abundant, polymeric materials. For example, polymeric carbon nitrides have emerged as promising materials for metal-free semiconductors and metal-free photocatalysts. Polymeric carbon nitride (melon) and related carbon nitride materials are desirable alternatives to industrially used catalysts because they are easily synthesized from abundant and inexpensive starting materials. Furthermore, these materials are chemically benign because they do not contain heavy metal ions, thereby facilitating handling and disposal. In this Review, we discuss the building blocks of carbon nitride materials and examine how strategies in synthesis, templating and post-processing translate from the molecular level to macroscopic properties, such as optical and electronic bandgap. Applications of carbon nitride materials in bulk heterojunctions, laser-patterned memory devices and energy storage devices indicate that photocatalytic overall water splitting on an industrial scale may be realized in the near future and reveal a new avenue of ‘post-silicon electronics’.

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Figure 1: Synthetic pathways to carbon- and nitrogen-containing molecules and extended carbon nitride materials.
Figure 2: Summary of modification strategies of polymeric carbon nitride.
Figure 3: Overview of the different nanostructures of carbon nitride photocatalysts40,86,91,106,115,181–183.
Figure 4: Applications of polymeric carbon nitride in catalytic and electronic devices

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank A. Thomas, P. F. McMillan, E. Kroke and B. V. Lotsch for illuminating discussions. M.J.B. thanks the Czech Science Foundation (GA CR) for junior grant funding (CAMs–16-21151Y) and the European Research Council (ERC) for funding under the Starting Grant scheme (BEGMAT–678462). X.C.W thanks the National Basic Research Program of China (2013CB632405), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21425309) and the 111 Project for financial support. C.M. thanks the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Grant No. ME 4387/1-1).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, University of Munich (LMU), Butenandtstrasse 5-13, Munich, 81377, Germany

    Fabian K. Kessler & Wolfgang Schnick

  2. State Key Laboratory of Photocatalysis on Energy and Environment, College of Chemistry, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350002, China

    Yun Zheng & Xinchen Wang

  3. Department of Organic Chemistry, Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Science, Hlavova 8, Prague 2, 128 43, Czech Republic

    Dana Schwarz & Michael J. Bojdys

  4. Fachbereich Physik, Freie Universität Berlin, Arnimallee 14, Berlin, 14195, Germany

    Christoph Merschjann

  5. Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry ASCR V.V.I., Flemingovo nám. 2, Prague 6, 166 10, Czech Republic

    Michael J. Bojdys

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Kessler, F., Zheng, Y., Schwarz, D. et al. Functional carbon nitride materials — design strategies for electrochemical devices. Nat Rev Mater 2, 17030 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/natrevmats.2017.30

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