van der Waals type II carbon nitride homojunctions for visible light photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

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Author(s)
Li, Xiaojie
Zhang, Panpan
Zhang, Huayang
Tian, Wenjie
Yang, Yangyang
Hu, Kunsheng
Chen, Dechao
Li, Qin
Duan, Xiaoguang
Sun, Hongqi
Wang, Shaobin
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2021
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Photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (PC-HER) provides a solution to energy crisis and environmental pollution. Herein, different graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4)-based van der Waals (vdW) type II homojunctions have been fabricated and g-C3N4/K-doped g-C3N4 nanosheets have an outstanding PC-HER rate of 1,243 µmol-h−1·g−1 under visible light, higher than that of bulk g-C3N4, doped g-C3N4 nanosheets, and mixed nanosheets. The enhanced PC-HER performance can be ascribed to the cooperative effects of the shortened bandgap, enlarged specific surface area, matched type II energy band structure, “face to face” vdW charge ...
View more >Photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (PC-HER) provides a solution to energy crisis and environmental pollution. Herein, different graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4)-based van der Waals (vdW) type II homojunctions have been fabricated and g-C3N4/K-doped g-C3N4 nanosheets have an outstanding PC-HER rate of 1,243 µmol-h−1·g−1 under visible light, higher than that of bulk g-C3N4, doped g-C3N4 nanosheets, and mixed nanosheets. The enhanced PC-HER performance can be ascribed to the cooperative effects of the shortened bandgap, enlarged specific surface area, matched type II energy band structure, “face to face” vdW charge interaction, and peculiarly partite positions of the conduction and valence bands in different layers. Besides, the type II junctions were found superior to binary type II junction. This study highlights the synergistic effect of different strategies in improving the PC-HER capacities of g-C3N4, especially the application of particular vdW junctions, and provides new insights to the structures and mechanism.
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View more >Photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (PC-HER) provides a solution to energy crisis and environmental pollution. Herein, different graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4)-based van der Waals (vdW) type II homojunctions have been fabricated and g-C3N4/K-doped g-C3N4 nanosheets have an outstanding PC-HER rate of 1,243 µmol-h−1·g−1 under visible light, higher than that of bulk g-C3N4, doped g-C3N4 nanosheets, and mixed nanosheets. The enhanced PC-HER performance can be ascribed to the cooperative effects of the shortened bandgap, enlarged specific surface area, matched type II energy band structure, “face to face” vdW charge interaction, and peculiarly partite positions of the conduction and valence bands in different layers. Besides, the type II junctions were found superior to binary type II junction. This study highlights the synergistic effect of different strategies in improving the PC-HER capacities of g-C3N4, especially the application of particular vdW junctions, and provides new insights to the structures and mechanism.
View less >
Journal Title
Nano Research
Copyright Statement
© 2021 Tsinghua University Press, co-published with Springer-Verlag GmbHs. This is an electronic version of an article published in Nano Research, 2021. Nano Research is available online at: http://link.springer.com// with the open URL of your article.
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This publication has been entered as an advanced online version in Griffith Research Online.
Subject
Environmental management
Environmental engineering
Science & Technology
Physical Sciences
Chemistry, Physical
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology