Solvent-free synthesis of highly porous boron carbon nitride for effective water cleaning

Traditional method for preparing boron carbon nitride (BCN) usually involves solvents in the pretreatment process before pyrolysis at high temperature. Here, we report that highly porous BCN with controllable 3D morphology can be synthesized successfully by rapid solvent-free ball milling followed by pyrolysis processes using B 2 O 3 , dicyandiamide (DCD) and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) as the sources of B, N and C, respectively. It is found that the porosity of the synthesized BCN varies from the amount of carbon source and the maximum specific surface area of 1386.7 m 2 g -1 with pore volume of 1.13 cm 3 g -1 can be achieved. The as-synthesized porous BCN materials exhibit excellent sorption capacities for methyl blue (MB), Congo red (CR) and basic yellow-1 (BY) up to 1220, 865.2 and 560 mgg −1 , respectively. Such outstanding adsorption performance is mainly due to the high porosity with polar surface of the BCN. Furthermore, the BCN can be easily regenerated by combustion in air at 400 °C and used repeatedly.