One-Pot Ionothermal Synthesized Carbon Nitride Heterojunction Nanorods for Simultaneous Photocatalytic Reduction and Oxidation Reactions: Synergistic Effect and Mechanism Insight

Band structure and crystallinity engineering of polymeric semiconductors provides effective strategies for photocatalytic activity enhancement. Here, a facile one-step ionothermal method was developed to achieve the in situ growth of carbon nitride (CN) isotype heterojunctions (ms-CN-x) using KCl/LiCl eutectic salts as the high temperature solvent and urea as the starting material, which are demonstrated to be efficient photocatalysts for removal of toxic heavy metal and organic pollutant in single or coexisting system. The as obtained ms-CN-x composite material appears as well-ordered nanorod structure with high crystallinity, and consists of phases of both heptazine-based CN and triazine-based CN. With structural and morphological merits, the ms-CN-0.5 photocatalyst exhibits remarkable adsorption-photodegradation performance for high level methylene blue (MB). Moreover, simultaneously enhanced photocatalytic reaction rate of Cr(VI) reduction and MB oxidation over ms-CN-0.5 are achieved and systematicall...