Nickel Ammine Complex‐derived NiO Modified g‐C ₃ N ₄ Composites with Enhanced Visible‐light Photocatalytic H ₂ Evolution Performance

Abstract

Abstract In this paper, NiO/g‐C 3 N 4 (NiO/CN) composites were successfully prepared by the wetness impregnation method using nickel ammine complex solution as NiO source. As photocatalysts, NiO/CN composites showed enhanced visible‐light photocatalytic hydrogen evolution activities in the presence of triethanolamine as sacrificial agent. The effects of NiO content and annealing temperature for NiO/CN composites on the photocatalytic H 2 evolution activities were investigated. Furthermore, NiO/CN composite with 10.0% NiO content after annealing at 450 °C exhibited optimal photocatalytic H 2 evolution rate of 90.05 μmol⋅h −1 ⋅g −1 which is about 17 times higher than that of pristine CN (5.22 μmol⋅h −1 ⋅g −1 ). Moreover, the experimental results demonstrated that amorphous NiO as co‐catalyst not only offered active sites for H 2 evolution but also benefited the efficient separation of the photogenerated charge carries. In addition, NiO/CN composite displayed the superior photocatalytic stability during the photocatalytic process.