Facilitated photocatalytic H₂ production on Cu-coordinated mesoporous g-C₃N₄ nanotubes

Photocatalytic conversion of solar energy to hydrogen (H-2) provides an efficient way for energy supply and storage. It is of great importance to improve the H-2 production efficiency by constructing photocatalysts with rapid charge transfer and separation and a low energy barrier for H-2 production. Here, we demonstrate high-efficiency photocatalytic H-2 production on Cu-coordinated mesoporous g-C3N4 nanotubes. The catalyst exhibits a photocatalytic H-2 production rate of 6.53 mmol g(-1) h(-1) under visible-light irradiation (lambda > 420 nm), which is much higher than that over bulk g-C3N4 (0.58 mmol g(-1) h(-1)) under the same conditions. Advanced characterization and density functional theory calculations reveal that such a catalyst has stronger light absorption, facilitated carrier transfer and separation, and a reduced H-2 evolution barrier than Cu-free g-C3N4 nanotubes. This study provides a new insight into the design of photocatalytically active sites of catalysts for high-performance H-2 production.