Delocalized Electrons via In Situ CNT Growth on Au/g‐C<sub>3</sub>N<sub>4</sub> for Boosting Photocatalytic H<sub>2</sub> Evolution
Zhihua Xia, Cheng Chen, Xiaoying Qi, Quanlong Xu, Hua Tang, Gang Liu
Abstract
Abstract Graphitic carbon nitride (g‐C 3 N 4 ) is a prominent polymer photocatalyst, yet it suffers from severe charge carrier recombination in photocatalysis. Herein, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are in situ grown onto g‐C 3 N 4 nanosheets via a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process, catalyzed by Au nanoparticles (NPs) pre‐deposited on g‐C 3 N 4 surface via deposition‐precipitation. Systematic characterizations, in particular femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy (fs‐TAS) and time‐resolved photoluminescence (TR‐PL), prove that CNTs can efficiently extract the localized electrons in the tri‐s‐triazine units of g‐C 3 N 4 , thereby enhancing charge carrier diffusion and separation. As a result, CNT/Au/g‐C 3 N 4 nanocomposites display a H 2 evolution rate of 0.95 mmol g −1 h −1 , which is about three times higher than that of Au/g‐C 3 N 4 . This work may pave a path to explore the full potential of CNTs to modify g‐C 3 N 4 or other photocatalysts in solar‐to‐chemical energy conversion.