Triazine-based nitrogen-rich graphitic carbon nitrides have been synthesized via two routes based on polycondensation reaction between melamine and cyanuric chloride in presence of nickel powder. The first route is a solvothermal method using benzene as solvent. The second one is a solvent-free solid reaction route. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns indicated that the synthesized products are graphite-like carbon nitride. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images reveal that the products mainly consist of 10-40 nm hollow spheres. The high atomic N/C ratio (1.60) determined by bulk element analysis shows the products are nitrogen-rich carbon nitrides. The chemical bonding structure and optical properties of the carbon nitride materials have been investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Ultraviolet visible spectroscopy (UV-vis), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL). The experimental results show that the products reserve the s-triazine structure. Both the products display the broad violet peak emission at about 408 nm. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.