Research on the Element Doping Modification Strategy of Graphite Carbon Nitride: A Review

Abstract The polymer semiconductor material known as graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) has been extensively utilized for the removal of pollutants in wastewater treatment due to its notable visible photocatalytic efficiency, cost-effectiveness, straightforward synthesis, and chemical robustness. Nonetheless, unmodified g-C3N4 still exhibits deficiencies including suboptimal visible light absorption, pronounced electron-hole recombination, and wide band gaps, resulting in constrained photocatalytic efficacy. Through extensive research efforts, diverse modification approaches have been devised to enhance its photocatalytic capabilities. This paper systematically introduces the development history, preparation methods, photocatalytic mechanisms, advantages, and disadvantages of novel g-C3N4 materials, the various modification strategies including morphology control, element doping, defect construction, semiconductor coupling, and hetero-structure construction. In this paper, the preparation process, characterization results, practical applications, and performance enhancement effects of various elementally doped g-C3N4 materials in pollutant removal are discussed in detail, indicating the advantages of multielement doping modification strategy have obvious advantages in improving the photocatalytic performance of g-C3N4, highlighting the future prospects of g-C3N4 materials.