Influence of Si ion implantation on structure and morphology of g-C3N4

Effect of Si ion implantation on structural and morphological features of graphite-like carbon nitride (g-C3N4) was investigated. g-C3N4 was prepared by using a simple atmospheric thermal decomposition process. The g-C3N4 pellets were irradiated with a Si ion beam of energy 200 keV with different fluencies. Structural, morphological and elemental, and phase analysis of the implanted samples in comparison with the pristine samples was carried out by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) techniques, respectively. The observations revealed that Si ion implantation results in a negligible change in the crystallite size and alteration of the network-like to the sheet-like morphology of g-C3N4 and Si ions in the g-C3N4 network.