Graphitic carbon nitride materials: variation of structure and morphology and their use as metal-free catalysts

Graphitic carbon nitride, g-C3N4, can be made by polymerization of cyanamide, dicyandiamide or melamine. Depending on reaction conditions, different materials with different degrees of condensation, properties and reactivities are obtained. The firstly formed polymeric C3N4 structure, melon, with pendant amino groups, is a highly ordered polymer. Further reaction leads to more condensed and less defective C3N4 species, based on tri-s-triazine (C6N7) units as elementary building blocks. High resolution transmission electron microscopy proves the character of the condensation motif. Due to the polymerization-type a variety of material nanostructures such as nanoparticles or mesop Those nanostructures also allow fine tuning of properties, the ability possibility to give surface-rich materials for heterogeneous reactions. properties of carbon nitrides, they show unexpected catalytic activity for the activation of benzene, trimerization reactions, and also the act ene f m personal access to g-C3N4 of reports in the literature approaching the synthesis of different ee Table 1). A very careful al approaches towards diverse n by Kroke and Schwarz3 and ve was made by Berzelius and n’’, and is regarded as one of uch.5 re of these compounds were as 1922. He found that the n derivatives derived from he method of preparation, and arkus Antonietti received his cientific education at the niversity of Mainz. Since 993, he has been Director of th