Erythrocyte-like ACET anchored on graphitic carbon nitride with activating π-conjugated electron transfer for enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen production

Abstract

Activating π-conjugated electron transfer in graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4), not only enhances the absorption of solar light, but also breaks through energy barrier, sequentially leading to increased photocatalytic hydrogen production. However, g-C3N4 is prone to agglomeration, wide bandgap, weak absorption of visible light, poor electrical conductivity and so on, which seriously restrict its photocatalytic performance, therefore activating π-conjugated electron transfer is confronted with great challenges. Herein, we show that activating π-conjugated electron transfer by breaking tri-s-triazine unit of g-C3N4 through a simple one-step gas template method. As a result, the best performed CN-4 sample exhibits an outstanding hydrogen production rate of 1282 μmol h−1 g−1, which is 455% higher than that of the pristine g-C3N4 (282 μmol h−1 g−1). Moreover, the density functional theory (DFT) calculations suggest that the original π-conjugated electron equilibrium system has been a significant transformation by C-doping. The results present a new direction of thought that utilizes π-conjugated electron transfer to enhance the photocatalytic hydrogen production by breaking tri-s-triazine unit.