Hollow Carbon Sphere-Modified Graphitic Carbon Nitride for Efficient Photocatalytic H2 Production |
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| Authors: | Dr Jinghua Li Dr Lunqiao Xiong Dr Bing Luo Prof Dengwei Jing Dr Jiamei Cao Prof Junwang Tang |
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| Institution: | 1. International Research Center for Renewable Energy & State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Flow in Power Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an Shaanxi, 710049 P. R. China;2. Department of Chemical Engineering, University College London, London, WC1E 7JE UK;3. School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710049 P. R. China |
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| Abstract: | A novel hybrid photocatalyst composed of hollow carbon nanospheres (NCS) and graphitic carbon nitride (CN) curly nanosheets has been prepared by the calcination of a NCS precursor and freeze-dried urea. The optimized photocatalyst exhibits an efficient photocatalytic performance under visible light irradiation with a highest H2 generation rate of 3612.3 μmol g−1 h−1, leading to an apparent quantum yield of 10.04 % at 420 nm, five times higher than the widely reported benchmark photocatalyst CN (2.01 % AQY). The materials characterization shows that NCS-modified CN curly nanosheets can promote photoelectron transfer and suppress charge recombination through their special coupling interface and NCS as an electron acceptor, which significantly improves the photocatalytic efficiency. Thus, this study provides an efficient strategy for the design of highly efficient photocatalyst, particularly suitable for a totally metal-free photocatalytic system. |
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| Keywords: | graphitic carbon nitride hollow carbon nanospheres hydrogen production metal-free photocatalysts |
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