Decorating tungsten oxide on g-C3N4 nanosheet as Z-scheme heterogeneous photocatalyst for efficient hydrogen evolution

Abstract

Here a facile hydrothermal method was developed to prepare heterogeneous photocatalyst constructed by decorating nanorod-assembled orbicular WO3·0.5 H2O on the surface of porous carbon nitride nanosheets. By integrating two martials with synergetic effect according to their bandgap structure, as-obtained catalyst exhibits well-suppressed recombination of the photoexcited carriers by formation of Z-scheme bandgap structure. It, together with the increased surface areas, contributes to the significantly improved photocatalytic performance. As a result, the heterogeneous photocatalyst reveals a hydrogen generation rate of 3100 µmol·g−1·h−1 under visible light irradiation, accounting for an approximately 16 times higher than that of pristine graphite carbon nitride. Accordingly, as proposed strategy provides a new opportunity to explore advanced catalysts with superior properties for renewable energy utilization.