Mesoporous Phosphorus-Doped g-C₃N₄ Nanostructured Flowers with Superior Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution Performance

Abstract

Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) has been deemed a promising heterogeneous metal-free catalyst for a wide range of applications, such as solar energy utilization toward water splitting, and its photocatalytic performance is reasonably adjustable through tailoring its texture and its electronic and optical properties. Here phosphorus-doped graphitic carbon nitride nanostructured flowers of in-plane mesopores are synthesized by a co-condensation method in the absence of any templates. The interesting structures, together with the phosphorus doping, can promote light trapping, mass transfer, and charge separation, enabling it to perform as a more impressive catalyst than its pristine carbon nitride counterpart for catalytic hydrogen evolution under visible light irradiation. The catalyst has low cost, is environmentally friendly, and represents a potential candidate in photoelectrochemistry.

g‐C3N4‐Based Heterostructured Photocatalysts

“…[41,42] In recent years, many efficient methods have been applied for the modification of pristine bulk gC 3 N 4 , such as exfoliation into nanosheets, [43][44][45][46] structure defect engineering, [40,[47][48][49][50][51][52][53] sur face property modification, [54][55][56][57][58][59][60] crystal structure optimiza tion, [61] nanostructure construction, [62][63][64][65][66] and heterostructure formation. [41,42] In recent years, many efficient methods have been applied for the modification of pristine bulk gC 3 N 4 , such as exfoliation into nanosheets, [43][44][45][46] structure defect engineering, [40,[47][48][49][50][51][52][53] sur face property modification, [54][55][56][57][58][59]…”

Defective graphitic carbon nitride synthesized by controllable co-polymerization with enhanced visible light photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

“…With the increase of terminal capping groups, the diameter of the arc radius becomes smaller, suggesting the lower electron-transfer resistance value which shows excellent separation and transport of photogenerated excitons. 54 The PL emission spectra were performed to further inspect the separation of the photo-generated carriers in pristine and modified g-C 3 N 4 ( Figure S5). The CN-DPT exhibits the lowest PL intensity in compared with other (the absorption of samples are kept approximately equal at 315 nm), which indicates the lowest recombination rate of photogenerated electrons and holes.…”

Phosphorus‐Doped Carbon Nitride Tubes with a Layered Micro‐nanostructure for Enhanced Visible‐Light Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution

“…[2][3][4] Bulk GCN obtained by the direct thermal polymerization process generally yields relatively low surface areas and less active sites for GCN,which significantly restricts its applications. [6,7] Nevertheless,t his type of templating is time-and costinefficient, for it requires environmentally hazardous reagents to remove the template and prohibits further functionalization. Thef abrication of hierarchical micro-nanostructures and heterogeneous element doping for GCN are two effective methods to solve the above problems.T ypically,various kinds of micro-nanostructure GCN,i ncluding porous GCN,s phere GCN,a nd tubular GCN,were obtained through ahard-templating approach.…”