Dispersed conductive polymer nanoparticles on graphitic carbon nitride for enhanced solar-driven hydrogen evolution from pure water

Developing new methods to improve the photocatalytic activity of graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) for hydrogen (H-2) evolution has attracted intensive research interests. Here, we report that the g-C3N4 exhibits photocatalytic activity for H-2 evolution from pure water. And, the activity is dramatically improved by loading highly dispersed conductive polymer nanoparticles. The H-2 evolution rate increases up to 50 times for g-C3N4 with 1.5 wt% polypyrrole (PPy) nanoparticles on the surface. The reaction proceeding in a pure water system excludes the need for sacrificial agents. The role of the highly conductive PPy in enhancing H-2 evolution is as a surface junction to increase the number of photoinduced electrons, and to facilitate electron transfer to the interface.