On the nature of interaction between Pd nanoparticles and C3N4 support

C3N4 samples were prepared by thermal decomposition of urea and Pd nanoparticles were uniformly dispersed on it by electron beam irradiation technique. From XRD, FTIR and TEM studies it is inferred that C3N4 network and its morphology are unaffected with Pd incorporation. However, UV-Visible optical absorption, steady state luminescence and lifetime measurements have confirmed that, there exists charge transfer from C3N4 network to Pd nanoparticles. Effective mixing of Pd nanoparticles with C3N4 and subsequent Pd catalyzed decomposition of C3N4 is inferred from Thermo-gravimetric studies. Hydrogen storage capacity of C3N4 increases with Pd nanoparticle incorporation.