Two-dimensional Graphitic Carbon Nitride/N-doped Carbon with a Direct Z-scheme Heterojunction for Photocatalytic Generation of Hydrogen

Overview

Journal Nanoscale Adv

Publisher Royal Society of Chemistry

Specialty Biotechnology

Date 2022 Sep 22

PMID 36132663

Authors

Jing Wang

Youcai Sun

Jianwei Lai

Runhui Pan

Yulei Fan

Xiongwei Wu

Man Ou

Yusong Zhu

Lijun Fu

Feifei Shi

Yuping Wu

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Photocatalysts with a direct Z-scheme heterojunction are promising by virtue of the effectively enhanced separation of charge carriers, high retention of redox ability and the absence of backward photocatalytic reactions. Their activity depends on band alignment and interfacial configurations between two semiconductors for charge carrier kinetics and the effective active sites for photochemical reactions. Herein, a two-dimensional (2D) graphitic carbon nitride/N-doped carbon (CN/NC) photocatalyst is synthesized by a gas template (NHCl)-assisted thermal condensation method. CN/NC has the synthetic merits of a direct Z-scheme heterojunction, 2D-2D interfacial contact, and enhanced specific surface area to improve charge separation kinetics and provide abundant active sites for photochemical reaction. It exhibits an over 46-fold increase of the photocatalytic hydrogen production rate compared to bulk CN under visible light illumination. This work demonstrates the great potential of 2D Z-scheme heterojunctions for photocatalysis and will inspire more related work in the future.

Citing Articles

Advancing Photoelectrochemical Energy Conversion through Atomic Design of Catalysts.

Zhao E, Du K, Yin P, Ran J, Mao J, Ling T Adv Sci (Weinh). 2021; 9(1):e2104363.

PMID: 34850603 PMC: 8728826. DOI: 10.1002/advs.202104363.

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