Intrachain torsional disorder in melon-based carbon nitride aerogel with enhanced photocatalytic properties

Minimizing the exciton binding energy in a single polymer material represents a promising strategy for enhancing photocatalytic activity. Herein we designed a melon-based carbon nitride aerogel with an intrachain torsional disorder driven by pyrolysis supramolecular strategy. Such torsional disorder melon-based π-conjugated systems can be constructed to exhibit a minimized exciton binding energy, extended visible light absorption, ultrahigh BET specific surface area, and enhanced charge carriers transfer and separation efficiency, thereby hydrogen production reached a new high of 1.83 mmol h −1 , with an AQY of 13.3 % at λ = 450 nm, exceeding most of the currently reported polymeric carbon nitride. This study highlights the facile regulation of exciton binding energy by crosslinked molecular architectonics, which shows great potential for torsional disorder π-conjugated systems in photoelectrical catalysis.