Triazine-based graphitic carbon nitride: a two-dimensional semiconductor

Gerardo Algara-Siller, Nikolai Severin, Samantha Y. Chong, Torbjörn Björkman, Robert G. Palgrave, Andrea Laybourn, Markus Antonietti, Yaroslav Z. Khimyak, Arkady V. Krasheninnikov, Jürgen P. Rabe, Ute Kaiser, Andrew I. Cooper, Arne Thomas, Michael J. Bojdys

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

551 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

Graphitic carbon nitride has been predicted to be structurally analogous to carbon-only graphite, yet with an inherent bandgap. We have grown, for the first time, macroscopically large crystalline thin films of triazine-based, graphitic carbon nitride (TGCN) using an ionothermal, interfacial reaction starting with the abundant monomer dicyandiamide. The films consist of stacked, two-dimensional (2D) crystals between a few and several hundreds of atomic layers in thickness. Scanning force and transmission electron microscopy show long-range, in-plane order, while optical spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and density functional theory calculations corroborate a direct bandgap between 1.6 and 2.0 eV. Thus TGCN is of interest for electronic devices, such as field-effect transistors and light-emitting diodes.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)7450-7455
Number of pages6
JournalAngewandte Chemie-International Edition
Volume53
Issue number29
Early online date18 May 2014
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 14 Jul 2014

Keywords

  • carbon nitride
  • graphene
  • semiconductor
  • thin films

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