Hydrogen evolution via photocatalytic reforming of biomass with palladium nanoparticles decorated g-C3N4 nanosheets

Abstract

Fossil fuel depletion and environmental toxins have made photocatalytic H2 production of paramount significance. A novel and unique technique for producing sustainable H2 and valorizing biomass using infinite solar energy is biomass photoreformation. Nevertheless, this environmentally friendly method is usually linked to severe reaction circumstances, insufficient selectivity, and restricted biomass conversion. Here, we present a novel one-pot photoreformation technique over porous g-C3N4 nanosheets surface-modified with Pd nanoparticles to convert d-glucose to H2. By stacking the g-C3N4 photocatalyst into a 2D nanosheet structure, some of its inherent drawbacks can be mitigated. Furthermore, the inclusion of noble metal nanoparticles in these g-C3N4 nanosheet structures could significantly boost existing photocatalytic activity. The majority of solar radiation is composed of visible light, which makes up 45% of it, and ultraviolet light, which makes up 5%. Therefore, our focus has been on utilizing abundant visible light to facilitate biomass reformation. After 4 h of continuous irradiation, our composite photocatalyst exhibited exceptional visible light activity; its H2 evolution was 1839.84 μmolg−1h−1, or about 27 times higher than that of undoped g-C3N4 nanosheets. The effectiveness of three different Pd loadings on g-C3N4 nanosheets for glucose reforming was examined. In the quest for an improved H2 evolution visible light active photocatalyst, g-C3N4 nanosheets made at various pyrolysis temperatures loaded with optimized Pd weight percentage were also examined.