Three‐Dimensional Hierarchical Porous Carbon/Graphitic Carbon Nitride Composites for Efficient Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production

Abstract

Abstract Developing low‐cost, wide‐source, and nontoxicity photocatalysts is highly desirable for application in efficient solar energy conversion. In this work, a series of nanosheet‐assembled three‐dimensional (3D) hierarchical porous carbon/graphitic carbon nitride (3D C/g‐C 3 N 4 ) composites have been successfully synthesized as efficient photocatalysts for hydrogen production. The optimal 3D C/g‐C 3 N 4 shows the largest H 2 evolution rate of 1610 μmol h −1 g −1 , which is nearly seven times that of bulk g‐C 3 N 4 . Such remarkably improved photocatalytic performance is mainly attributed to that: i) the 3D carbon effectively prevents nanosheets from agglomeration as well as serves as high speed channels for electron transport; ii) the interconnected porous network is favorable for the multiple reflections and utilization of light; and iii) the interfacial interaction between g‐C 3 N 4 and 3D carbon is beneficial to the charge separation and transfer.