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WS 2 and C‐TiO 2 Nanorods Acting as Effective Charge Separators on g‐C 3 N 4 to Boost Visible‐Light Activated Hydrogen Production from Seawater
Author(s) -
Yang Chengwu,
Qin Jiaqian,
Rajendran Saravanan,
Zhang Xinyu,
Liu Riping
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
chemsuschem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.412
H-Index - 157
eISSN - 1864-564X
pISSN - 1864-5631
DOI - 10.1002/cssc.201801819
Subject(s) - nanorod , photocatalysis , materials science , ternary operation , visible spectrum , hydrogen production , composite number , chemical engineering , water splitting , heterojunction , seawater , nanotechnology , hydrogen , chemistry , optoelectronics , catalysis , composite material , organic chemistry , computer science , engineering , programming language , oceanography , geology
Abstract Semiconductor photocatalysis is regarded as an ideal method for use in solving the energy shortage and environmental issues by converting solar energy to chemical energy. Herein, we have designed a facile synthetic methodology to obtain a ternary co‐modified g‐C 3 N 4 composite via WS 2 and carbon‐doped TiO 2 (C‐TiO 2 ) nanorods with highly efficient photocatalytic activity for hydrogen production from deionized (DI) water and a natural seawater system under visible‐light illumination. This composite exhibits enhanced photocatalytic activity compared to the pristine g‐C 3 N 4 , WS 2 , C‐TiO 2 nanorods, and the reference‐modified g‐C 3 N 4 composite with individual WS 2 or C‐TiO 2 nanorods. Co‐modified g‐C 3 N 4 composite shows a great photostability in both DI water and seawater. Under λ =420 nm monochromatic light illumination, the apparent quantum efficiency of the co‐modified g‐C 3 N 4 composite in seawater solution is 13.08 %, which is higher than pure g‐C 3 N 4 (5.06 %). WS 2 , TiO 2 , and g‐C 3 N 4 constitute a ternary heterojunction boosting the fast separation of photoinduced electron–hole pairs, which plays a crucial role in enhancing photocatalytic activity. Therefore, the WS 2 and C‐TiO 2 nanorod co‐modified g‐C 3 N 4 composite with high photocatalytic performance provides a promising candidate for rationally utilizing the seawater resource to produce clean chemical energy.