Wei-Lin Dai GroupWei-Lin Dai Group

Congratulations to Lingfeng Li on recent paper published in “The Journal of Physical Chemistry C” Au Nanoparticles Embedded in Carbon Self-Doping g-C3N4: Facile Photodeposition Method for Superior Photocatalytic H2 Evolution

Developing an efficient and stable photocatalyst for photocatalytic H2 production is of great significance for solving the existing energy and environmental crisis today. Herein, a superior photocatalyst, the uniformly dispersed ultrasmall Au nanoparticle (Au NP) decorated carbon self-doping g-C3N4 nanosheet (PDAu/CCNS), was successfully prepared via a simple photodeposition route. The as-prepared PDAu/CCNS displays a robust photocatalytic hydrogen (H2) production activity (∼15181 μmol h–1 g–1) under visible-light irradiation. The above value is ∼3 times higher than that of the neat carbon self-doping g-C3N4 (CCNS) (5330 μmol h–1 g–1), ∼2 times that of the impregnation Au NP decorated carbon self-doping g-C3N4 (IM-Au/CCNS) (9030 μmol h–1 g–1), and ∼50 times that of the bulk g-C3N4 (BCN) (300 μmol h–1 g–1). The superior photocatalytic performance of the as-prepared PDAu/CCNS results from the evenly distributed ultrasmall Au NPs on CCNS, leading to a strong localized surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect and an intimate contact between Au NPs and CCNS; thus, the as-prepared PDAu/CCNS exhibits a strong visible-light absorption and a high charge carrier separation and transfer rate, both of which synergistically promote the photocatalytic H2 evolution process.

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jpcc.1c02269acs.jpcc.1c02269.pdf