A Metal-free Polymeric Photocatalyst for Hydrogen Production from Water Under Visible Light

Overview

Journal Nat Mater

Date 2008 Nov 11

PMID 18997776

Citations 703

Authors

Xinchen Wang

Kazuhiko Maeda

Arne Thomas

Kazuhiro Takanabe

Gang Xin

Johan M Carlsson

Kazunari Domen

Markus Antonietti

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The production of hydrogen from water using a catalyst and solar energy is an ideal future energy source, independent of fossil reserves. For an economical use of water and solar energy, catalysts that are sufficiently efficient, stable, inexpensive and capable of harvesting light are required. Here, we show that an abundant material, polymeric carbon nitride, can produce hydrogen from water under visible-light irradiation in the presence of a sacrificial donor. Contrary to other conducting polymer semiconductors, carbon nitride is chemically and thermally stable and does not rely on complicated device manufacturing. The results represent an important first step towards photosynthesis in general where artificial conjugated polymer semiconductors can be used as energy transducers.

Citing Articles

In Situ Crystalline Growth ZnS Nanoparticles on Conjugated Polymer for Enhancement of the Photocatalytic Performance.

Liu B, Li X, Zhang L, Ma C, Chen Y, Wang X Polymers (Basel). 2025; 17(5).

PMID: 40076068 PMC: 11902180. DOI: 10.3390/polym17050575.

Low-Crystallized Carbon as an Electron Mediator in g-CN/C/TiO for Enhancing Photocatalytic Degradation of Antibiotics.

Shen Y, Liu Z, Bi R, Zhou B, Wang Y, Liu J Nanomaterials (Basel). 2025; 15(5).

PMID: 40072168 PMC: 11901478. DOI: 10.3390/nano15050365.

Direct observation of ultrafast symmetry reduction during internal conversion of 2-thiouracil using Coulomb explosion imaging.

Jahnke T, Mai S, Bhattacharyya S, Chen K, Boll R, Castellani M Nat Commun. 2025; 16(1):2074.

PMID: 40021641 PMC: 11871051. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-57083-3.

Interface Effects on the Electronic and Optical Properties of Graphitic Carbon Nitride (g-CN)/SnS: First-Principles Studies.

Qu L, Wang Y, Xia S, Nie R, Yin L, Zhong C Materials (Basel). 2025; 18(4).

PMID: 40004415 PMC: 11857837. DOI: 10.3390/ma18040892.

High performance supercapacitors driven by the synergy of a redox-active electrolyte and core-nanoshell zeolitic imidazolate frameworks.

Mansi , Shrivastav V, Dubey P, Bakandritsos A, Sundriyal S, Tiwari U Nanoscale Adv. 2025; .

PMID: 39991062 PMC: 11844434. DOI: 10.1039/d4na00805g.

References

Hitoki G, Takata T, Kondo J, Hara M, Kobayashi H, Domen K . An oxynitride, TaON, as an efficient water oxidation photocatalyst under visible light irradiation (lambda < or = 500 nm). Chem Commun (Camb). 2002; (16):1698-9. DOI: 10.1039/b202393h. View

Tsuji I, Kato H, Kudo A . Visible-light-induced H2 evolution from an aqueous solution containing sulfide and sulfite over a ZnS-CuInS2-AgInS2 solid-solution photocatalyst. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2005; 44(23):3565-8. DOI: 10.1002/anie.200500314. View

Ishikawa A, Takata T, Kondo J, Hara M, Kobayashi H, Domen K . Oxysulfide Sm(2)Ti(2)S(2)O(5) as a stable photocatalyst for water oxidation and reduction under visible light irradiation (lambda < or = 650 nm). J Am Chem Soc. 2002; 124(45):13547-53. DOI: 10.1021/ja0269643. View

Goettmann F, Fischer A, Antonietti M, Thomas A . Chemical synthesis of mesoporous carbon nitrides using hard templates and their use as a metal-free catalyst for Friedel-Crafts reaction of benzene. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2006; 45(27):4467-71. DOI: 10.1002/anie.200600412. View

Tsuji I, Kato H, Kobayashi H, Kudo A . Photocatalytic H2 evolution reaction from aqueous solutions over band structure-controlled (AgIn)xZn2(1-x)S2 solid solution photocatalysts with visible-light response and their surface nanostructures. J Am Chem Soc. 2004; 126(41):13406-13. DOI: 10.1021/ja048296m. View

Yachandra V, Derose V, Latimer M, Mukerji I, Sauer K, Klein M . Where plants make oxygen: a structural model for the photosynthetic oxygen-evolving manganese cluster. Science. 1993; 260(5108):675-9. DOI: 10.1126/science.8480177. View

Lotsch B, Doblinger M, Sehnert J, Seyfarth L, Senker J, Oeckler O . Unmasking melon by a complementary approach employing electron diffraction, solid-state NMR spectroscopy, and theoretical calculations-structural characterization of a carbon nitride polymer. Chemistry. 2007; 13(17):4969-80. DOI: 10.1002/chem.200601759. View

Maeda K, Takata T, Hara M, Saito N, Inoue Y, Kobayashi H . GaN:ZnO solid solution as a photocatalyst for visible-light-driven overall water splitting. J Am Chem Soc. 2005; 127(23):8286-7. DOI: 10.1021/ja0518777. View

Maeda K, Teramura K, Lu D, Takata T, Saito N, Inoue Y . Photocatalyst releasing hydrogen from water. Nature. 2006; 440(7082):295. DOI: 10.1038/440295a. View

10.

Sayama K, Mukasa K, Abe R, Abe Y, Arakawa H . Stoichiometric water splitting into H2 and O2 using a mixture of two different photocatalysts and an IO3-/I- shuttle redox mediator under visible light irradiation. Chem Commun (Camb). 2002; (23):2416-7. DOI: 10.1039/b107673f. View

11.

Khaselev , Turner . A monolithic photovoltaic-photoelectrochemical device for hydrogen production via water splitting . Science. 1998; 280(5362):425-7. DOI: 10.1126/science.280.5362.425. View

12.

de Carcer I, DiPasquale A, Rheingold A, Heinekey D . Active-site models for iron hydrogenases: reduction chemistry of dinuclear iron complexes. Inorg Chem. 2006; 45(20):8000-2. DOI: 10.1021/ic0610381. View