Enhanced light absorption and electron transfer in dimensionally matched carbon nitride/porphyrin nanohybrids for photocatalytic hydrogen production

Abstract

A novel dimensionally matched carbon nitride (g-C3N4) nanosheet/2D carboxyl porphyrin metal–organic framework (PMOF) nanohybrid was facilely fabricated with cobalt ions as interfacial linker. The interaction mechanism in the nanohybrid was explored by solid UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectra, X-ray photoelectron spectra and Fourier transform infrared spectra. In the nanohybrid, more reactive sites and efficiently electron migration can be achieved. Furthermore, the photocatalytic H2 generation of the g-C3N4 was greatly improved (15.7 times) after PMOF was introduced, which was also higher than that introduced with the same amount of carboxyl porphyrin (TCPP) molecules (6.95 times). The increased photocatalytic performance over the g-C3N4/Co2+/PMOF can be owed to the effectively visible absorption and charge separation due to the sensitization of PMOF as well as close and large contact in 2D interface. This research will pave a way in the interfacial assembly of highly efficient photocatalytic nanohybrids.