Preface: Carbon Nitride Nanostructures for Sustainable Energy Production and Environmental Remediation

Abstract

The rational fabrication of graphitic carbon nitrides (gCNs) and their utilization in a wide range of energy and environmental remediation applications is a growing research area, especially in the last two decades. However, hitherto a book related to this area of research has not been published. Thereby, this book is dedicated to emphasizing the state-of-the-art of gCNs nanostructures and their related fundamentals, mechanisms, and utilization in multidisciplinary energy production, energy conversion, and environmental remediation applications. We strive to cover the achievements in the fabrication approaches of gCN nanostructures using various chemical and physical approaches besides modulating their properties. The book includes 9 chapters. The template-based and template-free fabrication methods of one-dimensional (1D) gCN nanostructures (i.e., nanotubes, nanorods, nanofibers, and needles), and their mechanisms for thermal CO oxidation reaction are included in Chapter 1. Chapter 2 unveils gCNs, mainly g-C3N4-based chemiluminescence (CL) and electrochemiluminescence (ECL) sensors for using the top-down route and bottom-up route for the detection of organic or inorganic molecules and biomolecules (i.e., nucleic acids, biomarkers, proteins, and cell-related determination, enzyme activity, and pharmaceutical ingredients). Chapter 3 discusses the utilization of gCNs in electrochemical energy conversion technologies, comprising fuel cell reactions (i.e., oxygen reduction, alcohol oxidation, and water splitting) and energy production/storage (i.e., supercapacitor and Li-ion batteries). Chapter 4 discloses the synthesis of self-standing and modified gCNs for water-splitting reactions from a theoretical view and related fundamentals. The win-win combination of a hybrid g-C3N4/polymer and g-C3N4-derived hydrogel materials for advanced applications are discussed in Chapter 5. This includes the photoinitiator, dispersibility, photocatalytic and mechanical properties of the hybrid g-C3N4/polymer and its modification for novel applications such as biosensors, electrochemical energy storage, photocatalysis, batteries, H2 evolution, and thin films. Chapter 6 underlines the atomic and molecular functionalization of gCNs (i.e., coating, assembling, solid/liquid mediated growth, and gas-phase noncontact growth) for solar cell devices (i.e., dye-sensitized, organic, perovskite, and quantum dot solar cells).