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Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4)-based photocatalysts for solar hydrogen generation: Recent advances and future development directions

Naseri, A ; Sharif University of Technology | 2017

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  1. Type of Document: Article
  2. DOI: 10.1039/c7ta05131j
  3. Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry , 2017
  4. Abstract:
  5. Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) is a metal-free conjugated polymer constructed from two-dimensional sheets with a bandgap energy of 2.7 eV, which makes it an applicable and efficient visible-active photocatalyst for H2 production. In the present study, the basic concepts and principles of photocatalytic water splitting have been discussed, and a guide for the selection of appropriate photocatalysts, focusing on the g-C3N4 nanomaterials, has been proposed. Our approach is mainly concentrated on evaluating two factors, namely the solar-to-hydrogen (STH) conversion and apparent quantum yield (AQY) for different photocatalysts, to provide an in-depth analysis and a framework for solar H2 production for future research directions. We compared hydrogen production from an economic viewpoint and performance of g-C3N4 nanomaterials through photochemical (PC) and photoelectrochemical (PEC) methods. Various approaches for efficient solar H2 generation over a modified g-C3N4 surface with the possibility for commercialization have been introduced. The promising approaches for the effective utilization of g-C3N4 are categorized into three proposed methods: electronic structure tuning, hybrid and nanocomposite fabrication, and finally geometric structure manipulation. Finally, we compared the recent findings and key achievements for g-C3N4-based photocatalysts modified based on the abovementioned three approaches to propose two possible scenarios for their use in the future development of efficient solar H2 generation. © 2017 The Royal Society of Chemistry
  6. Keywords:
  7. Carbon nitride ; Conjugated polymers ; Electronic structure ; Nanostructured materials ; Nitrides ; Photocatalysts ; Photoelectrochemical cells ; Solar power generation ; Development directions ; Future research directions ; Graphitic carbon nitrides ; Photocatalytic water splitting ; Photoelectrochemical method (PEC) ; Solar-hydrogen generation ; Solar-to-hydrogen conversions ; Visible active photocatalysts ; Hydrogen production
  8. Source: Journal of Materials Chemistry A ; Volume 5, Issue 45 , 2017 , Pages 23406-23433 ; 20507488 (ISSN)
  9. URL: https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2017/ta/c7ta05131j#!divAbstract