A quasi-hexagonal prism-shaped carbon nitride for photoreduction of carbon dioxide under visible light.

A quasi-hexagonal prism-shaped carbon nitride (H-CN) was synthesized from urea-derived CN (U-CN) using an alkaline hydrothermal process. U-CN decomposition followed by hydrogen bond rearrangement of hydrolyzed products leads to the formation of a quasi-hexagonal prism-shaped structure. The H-CN catalysts displayed superior activity in the photoreduction of CO with HO compared to U-CN. The enhanced photocatalytic activities can be attributed to the promotion of incompletely coordinated nitrogen atom formation in the CN molecules. Graphical abstract ᅟ.