Fabrication of molybdenum doped carbon nitride nanosheets for efficiently photocatalytic water splitting

Abstract

Rational design of photocatalyst with efficient performance in water splitting is highly desired for solar energy utilization. In this work, a simple and facile strategy was developed to synthesize Mo doped graphic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) by a two-step thermal treatment process. As obtained product exhibits sheet-like morphology with porous structure, and the formation mechanism could be ascribed to the exfoliation effect in thermal environment. Photocatalytic property investigation reveals that Mo doped g-C3N4 nanosheets present greatly improved hydrogen evolution rate of 1.6 mmol g−1 h−1 under visible light, which is about 9.4 times higher than that of pristine g-C3N4. The improved performance could be well attributed to its enhanced visible light absorption, well suppressed carrier recombination and greatly increased specific surface area. Accordingly, our work provides a promising and straight forward way to develop advanced photocatalyst with high efficiency for renewable energy generation.