Development of carbon-based biocompatible and flexible nanosensors is essential in different practical applications. Humidity sensor is crucial in different fields among them. Herein, a unique metal-free nanosensor comprised of 2D-graphitic carbon nitride (CN) decorated with 0D-carbon dots (C-dots) was fabricated to monitor humidity in human breath. Simple polymerization and carbonization techniques were used to synthesize nitrogen enriched heterostructure (CN@C-dots). The synthesized heterostructure showed excellent physicochemical properties including high surface area, hydrophilic functionalities and more active sites that were responsible for enhanced humidity sensing. The fabricated nanosensor indicated excellent resistivity against humidity due to diffused proton hoping through inhibition of ion transfer from multiple water layers. The interaction mechanism was explained through simple hydrogen bonding and defective site chemisorbed oxygen participation in physisorbed humidity molecules.

The combination of the two-dimensional (2D) materials g-C3N4 and MXenes in photocatalysis offers several advantages. The g-C3N4 can serve as a visible light-absorbing material, while MXenes can enhance the charge separation and transfer processes leading to improved photocatalytic efficiency. A critical review of 77 already published articles in the field of photocatalytic reactions using g-C3N4 and MXenes, such as hydrogen evolution, the reduction of carbon dioxide, the degradation of organic compounds, the redox reactions of nitrogen, was conducted. For the purpose of greater objectivity, the published results were analysed by non-parametric Mann–Whitney, Kolmogorov–Smirnov, and Mood´s median tests and visualised by box and whisker plots. It was found that MXenes can significantly improve the photocatalytic activity of g-C3N4. Adding other co-catalysts to the MXene/g-C3N4 composites does not bring a significant improvement in the photocatalytic performance. Promising results were obtained especially in the fields of hydrogen evolution and the reduction of carbon dioxide. Since the MXenes are relatively a new class of materials, there is still a big challenge for finding new photocatalytic applications and for the enhancement of existing photocatalytic systems based on g-C3N4, especially in terms of the MXenes and g-C3N4 surface and in the heterojunction engineering.

The nanostructured dysprosium oxide ( Dy2O3) was synthesized by the co-precipitation method and incorporated with graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) using the ultrasonication method. The resultant product is denoted as Dy2O3/ g-C3N4 nanocomposite which was further used for electrochemical sensing of riboflavin (RF). The physicochemical properties of Dy2O3/ g-C3N4 nanocomposite were examined using several characterization techniques. The obtained results exhibit the nanocomposite formation with the preferred elemental compositions, functional groups, crystalline phase and desired surface morphology. The electrocatalytic performance of Dy2O3/ g-C3N4 nanocomposite was scrutinized with a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) via differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) and cyclic voltammetry (CV) techniques with the conventional three-electrode system. The modified electrode distributes more active surface area suggesting high electrocatalytic activity for the RF detection with two linear ranges (0.001–40 μM and 40–150 μM), a low detection limit of 48 nM and sound sensitivity (2.5261 μA μM−1 cm− 2). Further, the designed sensor possesses high selectivity, excellent stability, repeatability and reproducibility. Finally, the fabricated sensor was successfully estimated for the detection of RF in actual food sample analysis using honey and milk with better recovery.

The disposal of organic pollutants is one of the important research topics. Some of the studies in this field are based on the degradation of organic pollutants with a catalytic agent. The cobalt tetraoxide/peroxymonosulfate system is an important catalytic system used for the radical degradation of organic pollutants. To increase the catalytic efficiency of such reactions, graphitization of activated carbon used as a support solid and nitrogen doping to the carbon structure are commonly used methods. In this study, cobalt tetraoxide production, N-doping and graphitization were carried out in a single step by heat treatment of activated carbon doped with the phthlocyanine cobalt (II) complex. The catalytic performance of the catalyst/ peroxymonosulfate system was investigated by changing the pH, catalyst, and PMS concentration parameters on rhodamine B and 1,3,5 trichlorophenol, which were used as models. It was seen that the catalysts had 97% activity on rhodamine B in 16 min and 100% on 1,3,5 trichlorophenol in 6 min. It was observed that the catalysts continued to show high catalytic activity for five cycles in reusability studies and had a very low cobalt leaching rate. These results are in good agreement with previously published studies. In line with these results, the synthesized N-doped graphitic carbon/Co3O4 catalyst can be used as an effective catalyst for wastewater treatments.

Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) has attracted extensive attention in energy storage due to its suitable and tunable bandgap, high chemical/thermal stability, earth abundance and environmental friendliness. However, its conductivity should be improved to work as the electrode materials in supercapacitors. In this report, we have prepared a two-dimensional composite (CN-PANI) based on g-C3N4 and polyaniline (PANI) by in-situ polymerization, which can be efficiently applied as electrode material for supercapacitors. The introduction of PANI can increase the conductivity of the electrode, and the porous structure of g-C3N4 can provide enough channels for the transport of electrolyte ions and improve the electrode stability. As a result, the obtained CN-PANI demonstrates excellent specific capacitance (234.0 F g− 1 at 5 mV/s), good rate performance and high cycling stability (86.2% after 10,000 cycles at 50 mV/s), showing great potential for high-rate supercapacitors.

Graphitic carbon nitride ( C3N4) has been intensively studied in the last 25 years. Although the number of papers about C3N4 published per year has been growing exponentially, there are still some unclear issues with this material. One of them is s-triazine C3N4 (s-C3N4), which is an allotrope of C3N4. The theoretical computational as well as experimental synthetic results are not unambiguous. The properties of s-C3N4 have been described only in two papers, and no similar and reproducible results have been obtained so far. This paper provides a brief overview of s-C3N4 to bring attention to this material, for example, as a potential photocatalyst.

Herein, a new and generic strategy has been proposed to introduce uniformly distributed graphitic carbon into the nanostructured metal oxide. A facile and generic synthetic protocol has been proposed to introduce uniformly distributed conducting graphitic carbon into the Co3O4 nanoparticles ( Co3O4 NPs@graphitic carbon). The prepared Co3O4 NPs@graphitic carbon has been drop casted onto the portable screen-printed electrode (SPE) to realize its potential application in the individual and simultaneous quantification of toxic Pb(II) and Cd(II) ions present in aqueous solution. The proposed Co3O4 NPs@graphitic carbon-based electrochemical sensor exhibits a wide linear range from 0 to 120 ppb with limit of detection of 3.2 and 3.5 ppb towards the simultaneous detection of Pb(II) and Cd(II), which falls well below threshold limit prescribed by WHO.

In the present study, a novel electrochemical sensor for acetaminophen (AMP) which included quantum graphitic carbon nitride dots, g-C3N4QDs, was designed and conducted with molecular imprinted polymer (MIP). First, bulk g-C3N4 was generated with direct thermal polycondensation of melamine. After the treatment of the acidic solution containing H2SO4: HNO3 (1:1, v:v), the heating treatment at 200 °C on the dispersion provided g-C3N4QDs. In this respect, for nanomaterial characterization, some spectroscopic approaches were performed including Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) as well as electroanalytical methods such as electrochemical impedance (EIS) and cyclic voltammetry (CV). In accordance with the aims of the study, AMP imprinted electrode was formed after high electrocatalytic performance and linear range of 1.0 × 10– 11–2.0 × 10– 8 M and the LODs of 2.0 × 10– 12 was achieved. Eventually, an AMP-printed sensor was also used for AMP identification in pharmaceutical samples.

Ni nanoparticles (NPs)-graphitic carbon nanofiber (GCNF) composites were fabricated using an electrospinning method. The amounts of Ni precursor used as catalyst for the catalytic graphitization were controlled at 0, 2, 5, and 8 wt% to improve the photovoltaic performances of the nanoparticles and make them suitable for use as counter electrodes for dyesensitized solar cells (DSSCs). As a result, Ni NPs-GCNF composites that were fabricated with 8 wt% Ni precursors showed a high circuit voltage (0.73 V), high photocurrent density (14.26 mA/cm2), and superb power-conversion efficiency (6.72 %) when compared to those characteristics of other samples. These performance improvements can be attributed to the reduced charge transport resistance that results from the synergetic effect of the superior catalytic activity of Ni NPs and the efficient charge transfer due to the formation of GCNF with high electrical conductivity. Thus, Ni NPs-GCNF composites may be used as promising counter electrodes in DSSCs.

Ni nanoparticles (NPs)-graphitic carbon nanofiber (GCNF) composites were fabricated using an electrospinning method. The amounts of Ni precursor used as catalyst for the catalytic graphitization were controlled at 0, 2, 5, and 8 wt% to improve the photovoltaic performances of the nanoparticles and make them suitable for use as counter electrodes for dyesensitized solar cells (DSSCs). As a result, Ni NPs-GCNF composites that were fabricated with 8 wt% Ni precursors showed a high circuit voltage (0.73 V), high photocurrent density (14.26 mA/cm2), and superb power-conversion efficiency (6.72 %) when compared to those characteristics of other samples. These performance improvements can be attributed to the reduced charge transport resistance that results from the synergetic effect of the superior catalytic activity of Ni NPs and the efficient charge transfer due to the formation of GCNF with high electrical conductivity. Thus, Ni NPs-GCNF composites may be used as promising counter electrodes in DSSCs.

Co-embedded graphitic porous carbon nanofibers(Co-GPCNFs) are synthesized by using an electrospinning method. Their morphological, structural, electrochemical, and photovoltaic properties are investigated. To obtain the optimum condition of Co-GPCNFs for dye-sensitized solar cells(DSSCs), the amount of cobalt precursor in an electrospinning solutuion are controlled to be 0 wt%(conventional CNFs), 1 wt%(sample A), and 3 wt%(sample B). Among them, sample B exhibited a high degree of graphitization and porous structure compared to conventional CNFs and sample A, which result in the performance improvement of DSSCs. Therefore, sample B showed a high current density(JSC, 12.88 mA/cm2) and excellent power conversion efficiency(PCE, 5.33 %) than those of conventional CNFs(12.00 mA/cm2, 3.78 %). This result can be explained by combined effects of the increased contact area between the electrode and elecytolyte caused by improved porosity and the increased conductivity caused by the formation of a high degree of graphitization. Thus, the Co-GPCNFs may be used as a promising alternative of Pt-free counter electrode in DSSCs.

The feasibility of obtaining graphitic carbon films on targeted substrates without a catalyst and transfer step was explored through the pyrolysis of the botanical derivative camphor. In a horizontal quartz tube, camphor was subjected to a sequential process of evaporation and thermal decomposition; then, the decomposed product was deposited on a glass substrate. Analysis of the Raman spectra suggest that the deposited film is related to unintentionally doped graphitic carbon containing some sp-sp 2 linear carbon chains. The films were transparent in the visible range and electrically conductive, with a sheet resistance comparable to that of graphene. It was also demonstrated that graphitic films with similar properties can be reproduciblyobtained, while property control was readily achieved by varying the process temperature.