Open AccessIn situ growing of CoO nanoparticles on g-C 3 N 4 composites with highly improved photocatalytic activity for hydrogen evolution
Author(s) -
Xuecheng Liu,
Qian Zhang,
Liwen Liang,
Lintao Chen,
Yuyou Wang,
Xuecai Tan,
Li Wen,
Hongyu Huang
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
royal society open science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.84
H-Index - 51
ISSN - 2054-5703
DOI - 10.1098/rsos.190433
Subject(s) - photocatalysis , catalysis , water splitting , materials science , nanoparticle , metal , hydrogen production , chemical engineering , nanotechnology , chemistry , metallurgy , organic chemistry , engineering
CoO/g-C 3 N 4 hybrid catalyst is facilely prepared for application to photocatalytic H 2 evolution from water splitting by the vacuum rotation–evaporation and in situ thermal method. The physical and chemical properties of CoO/g-C 3 N 4 are determined by a series of characterization methods. The g-C 3 N 4 with 0.6 wt% Co loading exhibits superior photocatalytic hydrogen evolution activity with an H 2 evolution amount of 23.25 mmol g −1 after 5 h. The obtained 0.6 wt% CoO/g-C 3 N 4 can split water to generate 0.39 mmol g −1 H 2 without sacrificial agent and noble metal, while the pure g-C 3 N 4 is inactive under the same reaction conditions. The remarkable enhancement of photocatalytic H 2 evolution activity of CoO/g-C 3 N 4 composites is mainly ascribed to the effective separation of electron–hole pairs and charge transfer. The work creates new opportunities for the design of low-cost g-C 3 N 4 -based photocatalysts with high photocatalytic H 2 evolution activity from overall water splitting.