Plasmonic ternary hybrid photocatalyst based on polymeric g-C3N4 towards visible light hydrogen generation
Yuping Che, Qingqing Liu, Bingxin Lu, Jin Zhai, Kefeng Wang, Zhaoyue Liu
Abstract
Abstract Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect of noble metal nanoparticles (NPs) for photocatalysis has a significant enhancement. In this system, a plasmonic ternary hybrid photocatalyst of Ag/AgBr/g-C 3 N 4 was synthetized and used in water splitting to generation H 2 under visible light irradiation. 18%Ag/AgBr/g-C 3 N 4 showed the highest photoactivity, with the efficiency of hydrogen generation as high as 27-fold to that of pristine g-C 3 N 4 . Compared to simple mixture of Ag/AgBr and g-C 3 N 4 , hetero-composite Ag/AgBr/g-C 3 N 4 showed a higher photoactivity, even though they contained same content of Ag/AgBr. We find that significant factors for enhancing properties were the synergistic effect between Ag/AgBr and g-C 3 N 4 , and the light absorption enhancing by SPR effect of Ag NPs. Ag/AgBr NPs firmly anchored on the surface of g-C 3 N 4 and their high dispersion were also responsible for the improved activity and long-term recycling ability. The structure of Ag/AgBr/g-C 3 N 4 hybrid materials and their enhancement to photocatalytic activity were discussed. Meanwhile, the possible reaction mechanism of this system was proposed.