Construction of functional nanonetwork-structured carbon nitride with Au nanoparticle yolks for highly efficient photocatalytic applications

We report a novel and versatile fabrication strategy for functional nanonetwork-structured carbon nitride with Au nanoparticle yolks (FNNS-C3N4-Au) based on hairy poly(acrylic acid)-grafted SiO2 nanospheres (Au@SiO2-g-PAA). Benefiting from the three-dimensional nanonetwork structure and well-distributed Au nanoparticles, the as-prepared nanocomposites demonstrated excellent photocatalysis performances (degradation rate constant: 1.8 × 10−2 min−1).