Here we report a facile synthesis of carbon nitride-based hydrogels with adjustable shapes, ranging from cylinder to tube and thin sheet, by photopolymerization process in confined templates. The fabricated hydrogel shows enhanced mechanical properties compared to the reference gel without carbon nitride incorporation, good adsorption capacity, and promising photocatalytic activity toward hydrogen production. Meanwhile, the hydrogel also exhibits selective pollutants adsorption properties that could be attributed to the negative-charged carbon nitride as well as relatively high stability alongside enhanced light harvesting. The novel carbon nitride-based hydrogels offer a facile approach as photocatalyst and open up many opportunities for smart-catalyst design with adjustable reaction sites.
Keywords: carbon nitride; hydrogel; hydrogen production; photodegradation; selective adsorption.