Graphite carbon nitride loaded nitrogen-doped carbon and cobalt nanoparticles ternary photocatalyst for enhanced solar-driven hydrogen evolution

In this paper, we designed a composite photocatalytic system in which cobalt nano -particles (Co NPs) are attached to nitrogen-doped carbon (N-d-C) and co-bonded to the surface of the noted photocatalyst graphite carbon nitride (g-C3N4), showing an excellent photocatalytic hydrogen production. The bulk g-C3N4 was formed in the first thermal treatment in air using melamine as a precursor. Subsequently, the secondary calcination under N2 led to the synchronous fabrication of N-d-C/Co NPs and their combination with g-C3N4 to form a novel ternary photocatalyst (g-C3N4/N-d-C/Co NPs). Co NPs exposed on the surface of the nanomaterials endowed much more reaction sites than g-C3N4 for photo -catalytic hydrogen production. Meanwhile, the embedded N-d-C provided an additional transfer approach for photocarriers. The as-prepared composite nanomaterials own a relatively high specific surface area of 97.45 m2 g-1 with an average pore size of 3.83 nm. As a result, compared with pristine g-C3N4 (-25.35 mmol g-1 h-1), the photocatalytic performance was increased by over 10 times (-270.05 mmol g-1 h-1). Our work gives a novel approach for highly active g-C3N4-based photocatalysts in the field of photocatalysis. (c) 2022 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.