Dendritic mesoporous silica&titania nanospheres (DMSTNs) coupled with amorphous carbon nitride (ACN) for improved visible-light-driven hydrogen production

Abstract

Dendritic mesoporous silica nanospheres (DMSNs) are very promising platforms for catalysis application and other catalytic materials can be decorated into their nanochannels. Herein, we present a strategy of introducing two types of catalytic components to DMSNs nanochannels for the first time. Initially, dendritic mesoporous silica&titania nanospheres (DMSTNs) were fabricated with spherical anatase titanium oxide (TiO2) nanoparticles uniformly dispersed in dendritic channels. Then, multilayer amorphous carbon nitride (ACN) nanofilm was coated onto DMSTNs interfaces. The as-prepared heterogeneous DMSTNs/ACN photocatalysts maintain excellent dendritic architecture and display significantly improved visible-light response. DMSTNs/ACN can produce 9600 μmol·g−1 H2 with a ca. 1900 μmol·g−1·h−1 rate in 5 h for water splitting under simulated sunlight condition, greater than those of DMSTNs and DMSNs. The novel catalyst can also generate 7.09 μmol·g−1 CO (49.10%) and 6.86 μmol·g−1 CH4 (50.90%) in carbon dioxide reduction with its specific selectivity. This investigation opens up the possibility of adopting ACN-coated DMSTNs as novel photocatalysts for energy conversion in visible light environment.