Polymer brushes on graphitic carbon nitride for patterning and as SERS active sensing layer via incorporated nanoparticles

Graphitic carbon nitride (gCN) has a broad range of promising applications, from energy harvesting and storage to sensing. However, most of the applications are still restricted due to gCN poor dispersibility and limited functional groups. Herein, a direct photografting of gCN using various polymer brushes with tailorable functionalities via UV photopolymerization at ambient condition is demonstrated. The systematic study of polymer brush-functionalized gCN reveals that the polymerization did not alter the inherent structure of gCN. Compared to the pristine gCN, the gCN-polymer composites show good dispersibility in various solvents such as water, ethanol, and tetrahydrofuran (THF). Patterned polymer brushes on gCN can be realized by employing photomask and microcontact printing technology. The polymer brushes with incorporated silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) on gCN can act as a multifunctional recyclable active sensing layer for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) detection and photocatalysis. This m...