High Anti-Corrosive and Scalable CDs/BCN Heterostructure Photocatalysts for Efficient H2 Production in Natural Seawater

Photocatalytic natural seawater -derived splitting to produce hydrogen is one of the most potential strategies to alleviate the shortage of freshwater resources and energy crisis. Nevertheless, the complicated composition of natural seawater poses substantial challenges to the activity and stability of photocatalysts. Here, we report on the fabrication of carbon dots (CDs) and B elements co -modified carbon nitride (i.e. CDs/BCN) via precursormediated supramolecular self -assembly and subsequent NaBH 4 -assisted thermal reduction as well as its implementation as seawater -derived H 2 production. The fabricated CDs/BCN exhibits the flaky porous structure capable of providing more transport channels for the generated gases (e.g. H 2 ) and precipitates (e.g. Mg(OH) 2 , Ca (OH) 2 ) during the seawater splitting process. Benefitting from cooperation of CDs and B elements i.e. the inhibited recombination of electron -hole pairs as well as the extended optical absorption range of CN, the optimal CDs/BCN-2 under visible -light irradiation exhibits the high H 2 production rate up to 10369 mu mol g -1 h -1 in natural seawater. The proven satisfactory reusability and the corresponding structural stability demonstrate the excellent corrosion resistance of CDs/BCN-2 in natural seawater. Additionally, CDs/BCN-20 photocatalyst synthesized via 20 -fold precursor amplification procedure still displays efficient photocatalytic performance of 9022 mu mol g -1 h -1 , indicating its potential for industrial applications.