Self-regenerated solar-driven photocatalytic water-splitting by urea derived graphitic carbon nitride with platinum nanoparticles

Abstract

A natural self-regeneration step for urea derived graphitic carbon nitride with platinum nanoparticles is found by simply opening the system to air in the dark under ambient conditions, following its solar-driven hydrogen production. The produced peroxides deactivate the graphitic carbon nitride. Release of weakly bound peroxides on the polymeric semiconductor surface is a crucial process for regeneration.

Tunable Bandgap Energy and Promotion of H2O2 Oxidation for Overall Water Splitting from Carbon Nitride Nanowire Bundles

“…[ 12 ] In addition to the poor photocatalytic activity, the g-C 3 N 4 has demonstrated a two-electron favored charge exchange in the electroreduction of O 2 , [ 13 ] as well as the distinct H 2 O 2 generation during the photocatalytic H 2 generation. [ 5 ] Herein, we report a novel carbon nitride nanowire bundles (CN NWBs) evolved from g-C 3 N 4 sheets that undergo processes of iodine doping, oxidative cleavage into carbon nitride quantum dots (CNQDs), and restacking of the CNQDs. The resultant restacked CN NWBs could extend the light-absorption ability to a broader wavelength region due to structural distortion and enhance charge separation by the 1D structure compared with that of individual CNQDs; therefore a simple restacking process could induce a stable and novel secondary structure with a narrower bandgap.…”

Fabrication of platinum-deposited carbon nitride nanotubes by a one-step solvothermal treatment strategy and their efficient visible-light photocatalytic activity

“…Because nanostructural g-C 3 N 4 possesses larger number of active sites and exhibits smaller mass transfer resistance in the course of photocatalytic reaction compared with bulk g-C 3 N 4 . Other researchers tried to deposit noble metals on the surface of g-C 3 N 4 for capturing photoexcited electrons, thereby decreasing the photogenerated electron (e − )-hole (h + ) pair recombination probability [21][22][23]. Unfortunately, some problems exist in the above modification methods: first, the procedure for the nanostructure design is complex and toxic solvents are used in the preparation process.…”

Facile synthesis of WO3 nanorods/g-C3N4 composites with enhanced photocatalytic activity

“…Since then g-C 3 N 4 has attracted intense interest due to its high thermal stability and low product cost [19,20]. g-C 3 N 4 was reported to have a band gap of about 2.7 eV, and can absorb visible light up to 460 nm [18,21].…”