g‐C 3 N 4 ‐SiC‐Pt for Enhanced Photocatalytic H 2 Production from Water under Visible Light Irradiation

Graphite carbon nitride (g‐C 3 N 4 ) and SiC have drawn increasing attention for application in visible light photocatalytic hydrogen evolution by water splitting due to their unique band structure and high physicochemical stability. Herein, a g‐C 3 N 4 ‐SiC heterojunction with loaded noble metal is constructed. The g‐C 3 N 4 ‐SiC‐Pt composite photocatalysts are successfully prepared by the combination method of bio‐reduction, sol deposition, and calcination. The layers of g‐C 3 N 4 are thinned, and both SiC and Pt nanoparticles are simultaneously tightly bound to g‐C 3 N 4 by calcination during the preparation of g‐C 3 N 4 ‐SiC‐Pt. The heterojunction formed at the interface of SiC and g‐C 3 N 4 enhances the separation efficiency of the photogenerated electron–hole pairs. These composite photocatalysts achieve a high hydrogen evolution rate of 595.3 μmol h −1  g −1 with 1 wt% of deposited Pt, which is 3.7‐ and 2.07‐fold higher than those of g‐C 3 N 4 ‐bulk and g‐C 3 N 4 ‐SiC under visible light irradiation with a quantum efficiency of 2.76% at 420 nm, respectively.