Facile fabrication of graphitic carbon nitride, (g-C3N4) thin film

We report the synthesis of monolayered g-C3N4 from bulk g-C3N4 via ultrasonication where the monolayered g-C3N4 dispersions remained stable for nearly two months due to effective production of ultra-small-sized layered g-C3N4. A g-C3N4 thin film was fabricated with the utilization of as-prepared dispersion. The fabrication method involved spin coating the dispersion followed by drying at low temperatures of ∼150 °C. The photoelectrochemical performance obtained via this research is comparable with those via other methods of deposition, reaching the value of 1.4 μA cm−2 at 1.23 V (vs. RHE). The g-C3N4 maintained its intrinsic n-type properties and was activated under positive applied bias with minimum amount of dark current. The selection of pure methanol as disperser not only yielded excellent spreadability of the dispersion on substrate but also quickened the drying time. The developed method in this research provided an effective framework for a surpassingly facile and quick fabrication of monolayered g-C3N4 photoelectrodes.