Herein, the convenient visible light-induced photografting of hydroxyl ethyl methacrylate onto graphitic carbon nitride (g-CN) is described, leading to well-dispersible g-CN-based precursor polymers that can be injected. Mixing with citric acid as the cross-linker and heating leads to stable thermoset coatings. The process is versatile and easy to perform, leading to g-CN-based coatings. Moreover, the coating can be further functionalized/modified via grafting of other polymer chains, and the resulting structure is useful as photocatalytic surface or as photoelectrode.
Keywords: carbon nitride; coating; dispersion; photoactive surface; photoelectrochemistry; photopolymerization; thermoset.