Abstract
A successful exfoliation of g-C3N4 was achieved via ultrasonic power and ethanol as a solvent. The untreated (CN1) and treated (CN2) samples were characterized using various techniques. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) ascertained the formation of a typical nitride entity with less intense peaks for the ultra-sonicated sample. The FTIR, EDX, and XPS data have jointly confirmed the formation of the target compound. By virtue of its enhanced BET surface area (277 m(2) g(-1)) the treated samples could effectively adsorb 278 mg g(-1) of Pb (II) in a considerably short time of 47 min. The adsorption phenomenon was found to abide with the second(`) order kinetics and adopt a Langmuir isotherm behavior. Lead (II) elimination showed high removal efficiency after up to four cycles of effective recycling. This study demonstrated that CN2 nanosheets might be approved as an effective and stable candidate for eliminating dangerous heavy metal pollutants.