Abstract
Photocatalytic water splitting for hydrogen generation is a significant pathway for sustainable energy conversion and production. The photocatalysts with a Z-scheme water splitting charge transfer pathway is superior due to the good separation and migration ability of photoexcited charge carriers. Herein, Co3O4/g-C3N4 photocatalysts with Z-scheme charge transfer pathway were successfully constructed by an electrostatic interaction-annealing method. The as-prepared Co3O4/g-C3N4 ultra-thin nanosheets were tested and analyzed by XRD, EA, ICP, SEM, TEM, AFM, XPS, UV-Vis DRS, PL and photoelectrochemical measurements. Moreover, the influences of fabrication parameters on performance of Co3O4/g-C3N4 catalysts were investigated, and 0.5% Co3O4/g-C3N4 exhibited the optimal activity. Based on the characterization and catalytic performance, the Z-scheme charge transfer pathway of Co3O4/g-C3N4 was established and put forward. To further improve the catalytic performance of Co3O4/g-C3N4, 0.5% Pt was added as a co-catalyst. The obtained Pt/0.5% Co3O4/g-C3N4 was recyclable and remained the original catalytic water splitting performance within 20 h. The modification of Co3O4 and Pt improved the separation and migration of e− and h+, and induced the increased hydrogen evolution rate of g-C3N4.
Highlights
Photocatalytic hydrogen generation is a high efficiency, environmentally friendly and economically practical technology for utilizing solar energy [1,2,3]
Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3 N4 ) is a robust and nontoxicity polymeric catalyst with good properties [11]. It was constructed by the polymerization method as a photocatalytic water splitting catalyst in 2009 [12]
The H2 production tests were implemented with the catalyst (50 mg), which was dispersed in triethanolamine solution (10% vol TEOA) in the Labsolar-6A online system
Summary
Photocatalytic hydrogen generation is a high efficiency, environmentally friendly and economically practical technology for utilizing solar energy [1,2,3]. The Z-scheme charge transfer pathway is a practical strategy. It is extensively utilized by researchers to boost the effective separation and migration of charges, facilitate hydrogen generation of water splitting and perform a superior photocatalytic performance. Xie and co-workers synthesized Ag-AgI/BiOI-Bi2 O3 photocatalyst with Z-scheme multi-charge transfer pathway, which exhibited excellent photocatalytic performance [27]. Co3 O4 /g-C3 N4 catalysts have been applied to degrade tetracycline [30], several dye pollutants [31] and photocatalytic water oxidation [32] Co3 O4 was introduced via an electrostatic interaction–calcination method to form Z-scheme charge transfer pathway in order to obtain efficient separation of charge carriers and high photocatalytic water splitting performance. The Z-scheme photocatalytic charge transfer pathway of Co3 O4 /g-C3 N4 was put forward based on the experimental data
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