Active and stable materials that utilize solar radiation for promoting different reactions are critical for emerging technologies. Two of the most common polymeric carbon nitrides were prepared by the thermal polycondensation of melamine. The scope of this work is to investigate possible structural degradation before and after photoelectrochemical testing. The materials were characterized using synchrotron radiation and lab-based techniques, and subsequently degraded photoelectrochemically, followed by post-mortem analysis. Post-mortem investigations reveal: (1) carbon atoms bonded to three nitrogen atoms change into carbon atoms bonded to two nitrogen atoms and (2) the presence of methylene terminals in post-mortem materials. The study concludes that polymeric carbon nitrides are susceptible to photoelectrochemical degradation via ring opening.
Keywords: carbon nitrides; degradation; energy; photo-electrochemistry.