Tailoring morphology and structure of 1D/2D isotype g-C3N4 for sonophotocatalytic hydrogen evaluation

Abstract

Solar-driven photocatalysis is a promising technology for producing clean energy and pollutant removal. The efficiency of the photocatalytic applications is limited by inefficient light harvesting and faster electron–hole recombination of semiconductors. An external force such as ultrasound irradiation could overcome the limitation of the light absorption of the photocatalyst and enhance the production of energy sources. In this work, we have built an effective interphase boundary between two different morphologies of carbon graphitic nitride (g-C3N4). The isotype heterostructure is confirmed through the structure changes using XRD, the 1D/2D morphology formation using SEM and TEM imaging, and the bands’ position through Mott–Schottky and VB-XPS measurements. The designed 1D/2D g-C3N4 isotype heterostructure showed significant improvements through photocatalytic and sonophotocatalytic hydrogen evolution reactions (HER). Sonophotocatalytic HER of R-g, S-g, and RS-g samples showed enhanced by 3.9, 5.3, and 6.77 folds compared to the photocatalysis system. This research affords the possibility of developing intrinsic photocatalysts with different phases or morphology for efficient photocatalytic or sonophotocatalytic applications.