Semi-chemical interaction between graphitic carbon nitride and Pt for boosting photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

Owing to the exorbitant overpotential and serious carrier recombination of graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4), noble metal (NM) is usually served as the H(2 )evolution co-catalyst. Although the NM (such as Pt) nanoparticles can reduce the H-2 evolution overpotential, the weak van der Waals interaction between Pt and g-C3N4 makes against the charge transfer. Herein, the solvothermal method is developed to achieve semi-chemical interaction between Pt and g-C3N4 nanotube (Pt-CNNT) for fast charge transfer. Moreover, the generated in-plane homojunction of CNNT can accelerate charge separation and restrain recombination. Meanwhile, the metallic Pt is an excellent H-2 evolution co-catalyst. Photo/electrochemical tests verify that the semi-chemical interaction can improve photogenerated charge separation and transferability of CNNT. As a result, the photocatalytic H-2 evolution turnover frequency (TOF) of Pt-CNNT under visible light irradiation reaches up to 918 h(-1), which is one of the highest in the g-C3N4-based photocatalysts. This work provides a new idea to improve the charge transfer for efficient photocatalytic H-2 evolution. (C) 2021 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Chinese Chemical Society and Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.