Fullerenes/Graphite Carbon Nitride with Enhanced Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution Ability

Abstract

Graphite carbon nitride (g-C3N4) is an excellent photocatalytic hydrogen evolution material by water splitting, but enhancing its photocatalytic activity and stability is still a big challenge. In this study, by utilizing the super ability of fullerenes (C60) to attract electrons, we synthesized C60/g-C3N4 photocatalytic composite materials with superior electronic separation efficiency. The addition of C60 greatly improves the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution ability of g-C3N4 for water splitting under visible light radiation. The highest hydrogen evolution amount reached 2268.6 μmol/g over 15 mg/L C60/g-C3N4 after 10 h, which is 50.1× that of g-C3N4 under the same water splitting condition. The hydrogen evolution amount over 15 mg/L C60/g-C3N4 in the 0.2 mol/L K2HPO4 system is 4161 μmol/g, indicating the addition of K2HPO4 boosts the activity of C60/g-C3N4. The apparent quantum yield after 76 h was about 5.8%. The long-term photolysis water reaction for 76 h with rising photocatalytic activity exhibits...