Facile synthesis of g-C3N4 with various morphologies for application in electrochemical detection

In the present study, g-C 3 N 4 with various morphologies was successfully synthesized via a variety of facile in situ methods. The as-prepared products were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results obtained using square wave anodic stripping voltammetry (SWASV) showed that when g-C 3 N 4 was applied as an electrochemical sensor, it exhibited excellent sensitivity and selectivity for the detection of heavy metal ions including Pb( ii ), Cu( ii ) and Hg( ii ). Compared to nanoporous graphitic carbon nitride (npg-C 3 N 4 ) and g-C 3 N 4 nanosheet-modified glass carbon electrode (GCE), g-C 3 N 4 successfully realized the individual and simultaneous detection of four target heavy ions for the first time. In particular, g-C 3 N 4 displayed significant electrocatalytic activity towards Hg( ii ) with a good sensitivity of 18.180 μA μM −1 and 35.923 μA μM −1 under the individual and simultaneous determination conditions, respectively. The sensitivity for simultaneous determination was almost 2 times that of the individual determination. Moreover, the fabricated electrochemical sensor showed good anti-interference, stability and repeatability; this indicated significant potential of the proposed materials for application in high-performance electrochemical sensors for the individual and simultaneous detection of heavy metal ions. In the present study, g-C 3 N 4 with various morphologies was successfully synthesized via a variety of facile in situ methods.