Implanting nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dots on porous ultrathin carbon nitride for efficient metal-free photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

Mimicking natural photosynthesis to make solar power into hydrogen energy is widely perceived as a promising and sustainable way to alleviate the energy crisis and environmental pollution. However, adding metallic cocatalysts and even noble metal cocatalysts into carbon nitride-based photocatalysts still seriously restrict the practical development of photocatalytic water splitting. To address these issues, we carefully design and construct a metal-free photocatalytic system through grafting 0D nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dots (NGQDs) on 2D porous ultrathin carbon nitride (PUCN). The incorporated N-GQDs can act as electron collectors to promote the charge separation/transfer on PUCN, and also can extend the photoabsorption region of PUCN. Thus, the metal-free N-GQDs/PUCN photocatalyst exhibits a drastically enhanced hydrogen production rate of 1248 & mu;mol g-1 h-1, which fetches up to about 208 times as high as that of PUCN (6 & mu;mol g-1 h-1). Notably, the photocatalytic performance of N-GQDs/PUCN is close to that of Pt/PUCN with the same cocatalyst amount (1706 & mu;mol g-1 h-1), and metal-free N-GQDs/PUCN photocatalyst outperforms most of the reported carbon nitridebased photocatalysts with metallic cocatalysts for photocatalytic water splitting. This work offers new insight to construct metal-free carbon nitride-based photocatalysts, which will be beneficial for the practical development of photocatalytic water splitting.

Automated summary

Mimicking natural photosynthesis by using carbon nitride-based photocatalysts to convert solar power into hydrogen energy has been hindered by the addition of metallic cocatalysts. To overcome this issue, a metal-free photocatalytic system was developed by grafting nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dots (NGQDs) onto porous ultrathin carbon nitride (PUCN). The integration of N-GQDs enhanced the hydrogen production rate of the photocatalyst by 208 times compared to PUCN. This new metal-free photocatalyst outperforms most carbon nitride-based photocatalysts with metallic cocatalysts, offering potential for practical applications in photocatalytic water splitting.