Engineered g-CN-Based Nanomaterials for Photocatalytic Energy Conversion and Environmental Remediation.

Photocatalysis plays a vital role in sustainable energy conversion and environmental remediation because of its economic, eco-friendly, and effective characteristics. Nitrogen-rich graphitic carbon nitride (g-CN) has received worldwide interest owing to its facile accessibility, metal-free nature, and appealing electronic band structure. This review summarizes the latest progress for g-CN-based photocatalysts in energy and environmental applications. It begins with the synthesis of pristine g-CN materials with various topologies, followed by several engineering strategies for g-CN, such as elemental doping, defect engineering, and heterojunction creation. In addition, the applications in energy conversion (H evolution, CO reduction, and N fixation) and environmental remediation (NO purification and aqueous pollutant degradation) are discussed. Finally, a summary and some inspiring perspectives on the challenges and possibilities of g-CN-based materials are presented. It is believed that this review will promote the development of emerging g-CN-based photocatalysts for more efficiency in energy conversion and environmental remediation.