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Nano Research 2023, 16(4): 4539-4545 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-021-3897-7
Research Article | Issue | Published: 15 October 2021

Understanding the roles of carbon in carbon/g-C3N4 based photocatalysts for H2 evolution

Show Author's Information Mu Xiao1,  Yalong Jiao2,†,  Bin Luo1( ),  Songcan Wang1,ǂ,  Peng Chen1,  Miaoqiang Lyu1,  Aijun Du2,  Lianzhou Wang1( )
Nanomaterials Centre, School of Chemical Engineering and Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia
School of Chemistry, Physics and Mechanical Engineering, Science and Engineering Faculty Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane City, QLD 4000, Australia
Present address: Faculty for Chemistry and Food Chemistry, TU Dresden, 01069 Dresden, Germany
Present address: Frontiers Science Center for Flexible Electronics, Shaanxi Institute of Flexible Electronics & Shaanxi Institute of Biomedical Materials and Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, West Youyi Road, Xi’an 710072, China
Keywords:
carbon, charge transfer, carbon nitride, photocatalysis, exciton dissociation
Cite this article:
Xiao M, Jiao Y, Luo B, et al. Understanding the roles of carbon in carbon/g-C3N4 based photocatalysts for H2 evolution. Nano Research, 2023, 16(4): 4539-4545. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-021-3897-7
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

Coupling graphitic carbon nitride (CN) with carbonaceous materials is an effective strategy to improve photocatalytic performance, but the contributions of carbonaceous materials are not fully understood. Herein, a new type of carbon/CN (CCN) complex photocatalyst is synthesized with a 6-fold enhancement of H2 evolution rate compared to that of pristine CN. The role of carbon in photocatalytic H2 evolution reaction is systemically studied and it is experimentally and theoretically revealed that carbon mainly contributes to the improved capability of exciton dissociation and enhanced electric conductivity for charge transfer, leading to an increased population of photo-carriers for photocatalytic reactions. Interestingly, the enhanced light absorption originated from carbon barely generates charge carriers for H2 evolution activity. These new findings will inspire the rational design of carbon-based photocatalysts for efficient solar fuel production.


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Electronic supplementary material
About this article

Understanding the roles of carbon in carbon/g-C3N4 based photocatalysts for H2 evolution

Show Author's information Mu Xiao1, Yalong Jiao2,†, Bin Luo1( ), Songcan Wang1,ǂ, Peng Chen1, Miaoqiang Lyu1, Aijun Du2, Lianzhou Wang1( )
Nanomaterials Centre, School of Chemical Engineering and Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia
School of Chemistry, Physics and Mechanical Engineering, Science and Engineering Faculty Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane City, QLD 4000, Australia
Present address: Faculty for Chemistry and Food Chemistry, TU Dresden, 01069 Dresden, Germany
Present address: Frontiers Science Center for Flexible Electronics, Shaanxi Institute of Flexible Electronics & Shaanxi Institute of Biomedical Materials and Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, West Youyi Road, Xi’an 710072, China

Abstract

Coupling graphitic carbon nitride (CN) with carbonaceous materials is an effective strategy to improve photocatalytic performance, but the contributions of carbonaceous materials are not fully understood. Herein, a new type of carbon/CN (CCN) complex photocatalyst is synthesized with a 6-fold enhancement of H2 evolution rate compared to that of pristine CN. The role of carbon in photocatalytic H2 evolution reaction is systemically studied and it is experimentally and theoretically revealed that carbon mainly contributes to the improved capability of exciton dissociation and enhanced electric conductivity for charge transfer, leading to an increased population of photo-carriers for photocatalytic reactions. Interestingly, the enhanced light absorption originated from carbon barely generates charge carriers for H2 evolution activity. These new findings will inspire the rational design of carbon-based photocatalysts for efficient solar fuel production.

Keywords: carbon, charge transfer, carbon nitride, photocatalysis, exciton dissociation

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Publication history
Copyright
Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 14 July 2021
Revised: 08 September 2021
Accepted: 21 September 2021
Published: 15 October 2021
Issue date: April 2023

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2021

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgement

The financial support from Australian Research Council (ARC) through the Discovery and Laureate Fellowship programs is greatly acknowledged. The authors would like to express their appreciations for the support from the Australian National Fabrication Facility-Queensland Node (ANFF-Q) and the Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis (CMM) from the University of Queensland. The support from the Centre of Advanced Imaging is also highly appreciated. M. X. would like to express her gratitude for the financial support from the Australian Government through the Research Training Program Scholarship.

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