Diverse Polymeric Carbon Nitride-Based Semiconductors for Photocatalysis and Variations

Polymeric carbon nitrides (PCNs) are a species of metal-free semiconductors that consists of only Earth-abundant carbon and nitrogen elements. The semiconducting properties of PCN were first realized as a stable photocatalyst for hydrogen and oxygen evolutions by splitting water under light illumination. The recent investigations have shown unique characteristics that diverse semiconducting properties of PCN can be achieved through conventional co-polymerization of condensing organic co-monomers with typical carbon- and nitrogen-abundant precursors. The properties of the organic co-monomer would affect the photochemistry of the as-modified PCN. The diverse semiconducting manners of PCN will eventually inspire a series of advanced developments for materials science, not only in photocatalysis, but also in biology, electronics, and many more fields.