Enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen evolution over TiO2/g-C3N4 2D heterojunction coupled with plasmon Ag nanoparticles

2D heterojunction based on g-C3N4 nanosheets with other semiconductor nanosheets is a promising way to improve photocatalytic hydrogen evolution (PHE) activity over g-C3N4. However, current 2D heterojunction based on g-C3N4 are unsatisfactory due to their insufficient absorption of visible light and inefficient charge separation. In this work, Ag/TiO2/g-C3N4 nanocomposites based on 2D heterojunction coupling with Ag surface plasmon resonance (SPR) were synthesized by a method combining facile wetness impregnation calcination. The PHE activity of Ag/TiO2/g-C3N4 nanocomposites is attributed to the TiO2/g-C3N4 2D heterojunction and bare g-C3N4 nanosheet under visible light irradiation, indicating a cooperative effect between Ag and TiO2/g-C3N4 2D heterojunction. As a result of SPR effect, the composites strongly absorb visible light. In addition, the oscillating hot electrons from Ag can easily transfer to 2D heterojunction. This synergistic effect lead to sufficient visible light absorption and efficient charge separation of 2D heterojunction, which improved the PHE activity of g-C3N4. This work indicates that loading metal nanoparticles on 2D heterojunction as metal SPR-2D heterojunction nanocomposites may be a potential method for harvesting visible light for PHE.