Half-metallic carbon nitride nanosheets with micro grid mode resonance structure for efficient photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

Abstract

Photocatalytic hydrogen evolution from water has triggered an intensive search for metal-free semiconducting photocatalysts. However, traditional semiconducting materials suffer from limited hydrogen evolution efficiency owing to low intrinsic electron transfer, rapid recombination of photogenerated carriers, and lack of artificial microstructure. Herein, we report a metal-free half-metallic carbon nitride for highly efficient photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. The introduced half-metallic features not only effectively facilitate carrier transfer but also provide more active sites for hydrogen evolution reaction. The nanosheets incorporated into a micro grid mode resonance structure via in situ pyrolysis of ionic liquid, which show further enhanced photoelectronic coupling and entire solar energy exploitation, boosts the hydrogen evolution rate reach up to 1009 μmol g−1 h−1. Our findings propose a strategy for micro-structural regulations of half-metallic carbon nitride material, and meanwhile the fundamentals provide inspirations for the steering of electron transfer and solar energy absorption in electrocatalysis, photoelectrocatalysis, and photovoltaic cells.

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“…2,3 Due to their chemical stability, ease of preparation, structural tunability and availability, carbon nitrides became convenient catalysts in organic synthesis. [4][5][6][7] Moreover, poly(heptazine imides) are capable of photocharging. 8 Fig.…”

Controllable Synthesis of Mesoporous TiO2 Polymorphs with Tunable Crystal Structure for Enhanced Photocatalytic H2 Production

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6] Photocatalytic hydrogen evolution from water splitting on semiconductor photocatalysts is a superior and attractive way for producing renewable and clean energy. [1][2][3][4][5][6] Photocatalytic hydrogen evolution from water splitting on semiconductor photocatalysts is a superior and attractive way for producing renewable and clean energy.…”

A Hybrid Artificial Photocatalysis System Splits Atmospheric Water for Simultaneous Dehumidification and Power Generation

“…First, for a semiconductor to perform water splitting, its bandgap should be near 2.0 eV to harvest visible light and provide a sufficient overpotential for redox reaction (e.g., Cu 2 O, g‐C 3 N 4 , and Ta 3 N 5 ) . However, the unmodified semiconductors are usually sluggish for charge separation and transfer.…”