Spectroscopic Fingerprints of Carbon Nitride Functional Groups Locked-up in Intermolecular H-bonding Interactions

We have investigated the effect of intermolecular H- bonding interactions on the local electronic structure of N- functionalities, amino group and pyridine-like N, which are characteristic of a new class of metal-free polymeric photo-catalysts named graphitic carbon nitrides, g-C3N4. Specifically, we have performed a characterization of the melamine molecule, a building block of g-C3N4, combining X-ray photoemission (XPS) and near edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy. The molecule has been studied in the gas phase, as non-interacting system, and in the solid state within a hydrogen bonded network. With the support of density functional theory (DFT) simulations of the spectra, we have found that the H-bonds mainly affect the N 1s level of the amino group, leaving the N 1s level of the pyridine-like N mostly unperturbed. This fact is responsible for a reduction of the chemical shift between the two XPS N 1s levels, compared to the free melamine. Consequently, N K-edge NEXAFS resonances involving the amino N 1s level also shift to lower photon energies. Moreover, the solid state absorption spectra have shown strong modification/quenching of resonances related with transitions from the amino N 1s level towards σ*orbitals involving the -NH2 terminations.