Visible-light-driven photocatalytic hydrogen production on defective, sulfur self-doped g-C3N4 nanofiber fabricate via electrospinning method
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
4-1-2023
Abstract
This study scrutinized the impact of the sulfur (<1.0 wt. %), calcination temperature (550-650 oC), and structure (bulk, nanofiber) on the texture-photoelectronic characters, crystallinity, and performance of the fabricated g-C3N4 over H2 evolution rate (HER). Sulfur self-doped g-C3N4 nanofiber with porous structure and carbon vacancies (labeled as SCNF) was fabricated via an electrospinning process followed by suitable thermal treatment. The formation mechanism was proposed. Compared to S-doped g-C3N4 bulk, the S-doped g-C3N4 nanofiber showed a 2.84 folds improvement in HER (ca. 632 mu mol/h.g) under identical testing conditions. The enhancement for the photocatalytic activity of SCNF samples related to the photoelectronic-texture feature, which enhanced the charge separation efficiency, suppressed the recombination rate, and improved the Vis-light harnessing capability. Interestingly, the modified g-C3N4 showed the ability to interact with long wavelengths up to 710 nm. As the synthesis method for SCNF with high performance is simple, the SCNF can be envisioned as applicable in solar energy conversion and environmental remediation, which is beneficial to the environment and human development.
Keywords
Nanofiber, Solar-to-fuel conversion, Electrospinning method, NIR-responsive photocatalyst
Divisions
sch_che
Funders
Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia via the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme DP KPT (FRGS/1/2019/STG01/UM/02/5),University of Malaya Impact -Oriented Interdisciplinary Research (IIRG003A-2020FNW)
Publication Title
Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering
Volume
11
Issue
2
Publisher
Elsevier
Publisher Location
125 London Wall, London, ENGLAND