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G-C3N4 Nanosheets Coupled with TiO2 Nanosheets as 2D/2D Heterojunction Photocatalysts Toward High Photocatalytic Activity for Hydrogen Production

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Abstract

TiO2/g-C3N4 2D/2D heterojunction nanocomposites were successfully synthesized through a facile self-assembly method. The structure characterization results shows good interaction between TiO2 nanosheets and g-C3N4 nanosheets. The photocatalytic activity of TiO2/g-C3N4 samples were measured by hydrogen production in water splitting under visible light irradiation, which was found that the composites enhance the photocatalytic activity clearly compared to pure g-C3N4 and TiO2 nanosheets. The results could attribute to the formation of 2D heterojunction because of the stimulative charge transfer, promotional separation efficiency of photoexcited electron and hole and the suitable band positions. Besides, the samples exhibited substantial stability under visible light irradiation by the recycling experiments. The feasible photocatalytic mechanism was minutely discussed, which could explain the enhanced photocatalytic activity.

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Acknowledgments

This work supported by the Scientific Research Foundation of Shaanxi University of Science & Technology (No. BJ14-24), Special Research Fund of Education Department of Shaanxi (No. 15JK1105, 16JK1108) and Research Fund of Technology Department of Shaanxi (No. 2017JQ2021).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The School of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, Shaanxi University of Science & Technology, Xi’an, 710021, China

    Yuhao Yang, Xiaolong Li & Wenhuan Huang

  2. Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Chemical Additives for Industry, Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, Xi’an, 710021, China

    Yuhao Yang, Xiaolong Li & Wenhuan Huang

  3. Architectural Engineering Institute, Shaanxi Energy Insititute, Xianyang, 712000, China

    Chan Lu

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  1. Yuhao Yang
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Yang, Y., Li, X., Lu, C. et al. G-C3N4 Nanosheets Coupled with TiO2 Nanosheets as 2D/2D Heterojunction Photocatalysts Toward High Photocatalytic Activity for Hydrogen Production. Catal Lett 149, 2930–2939 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10562-019-02805-8

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