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Simple hydrothermal synthesis of g-C3N4/Ni9S8 composites for efficient photocatalytic H2 evolution

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Abstract

The prompt recombination between photogenerated electrons and holes is the common problem for improving the hydrogen evolution performance of a photocatalyst, which could be solved greatly by composite co-catalysis. Herein, a simple hydrothermal reaction was utilized to prepare g-C3N4/Ni9S8 composite photocatalysts. Through electroless nickel plating, Ni9S8 nanostructure was homogeneously grown onto the g-C3N4 surface by using sodium hypophosphite as reducing agent. With the optimum loading amount of Ni9S8, the acquired composite, compared with the raw g-C3N4, presented a significant increase in hydrogen evolution rate under visible light irradiation, which was measured as 355.7 μmol g−1 h−1 at 7 °C, being 21.2 times that of raw g-C3N4. The mechanism for the hydrogen evolution reaction over the present g-C3N4/Ni9S8 composite photocatalysts was discussed in detail.

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Acknowledgements

The authors appreciate the financial support for this work from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11674035 and 61274015), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Science, China University of Geosciences, Beijing, 100083, People’s Republic of China

    Ao Li & Zhijian Peng

  2. School of Science, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing, 100876, People’s Republic of China

    Ao Li & Xiuli Fu

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  1. Ao Li
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Li, A., Peng, Z. & Fu, X. Simple hydrothermal synthesis of g-C3N4/Ni9S8 composites for efficient photocatalytic H2 evolution. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 32, 21643–21657 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-021-06678-9

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