Well-aligned carbon nitride nanorods: the template-free synthesis and their optical and thermal properties

The fabrication and optical properties of well-aligned graphitic carbon nitride nanorods are demonstrated. The growth strategy involves the polycondensation of ballmilled molecular precursors of melamine and cyanuric chloride at programmed temperatures. The compositional and structural characterizations confirm that the prepared samples are polymeric graphitic carbon nitride with high crystallinity. The morphological studies reveal that the prepared samples consist of nanorods aligning nearly in parallel. The photophysical features of the carbon nitride nanorods can be satisfactorily described by the excitation and radiative recombination of molecular excitons. The significantly improved interlayer stacking, as well as the shifting of optical bandgap to higher energies, may be attributed to the general nanosize effect. Due to the overlap of orbitals induced by the delocalization of electrons in the sp 2 clusters with the higher packing density perpendicular to the layers, a wider bandgap is proposed for this peculiar nanoarchitecture. The luminescent nanorods remain thermally stable up to about 500 °C during calcination under atmospheric conditions, indicating their potential applications as sensors and nanoelectronic and optoelectronic devices.