Pure carbon nanodots for excellent photocatalytic hydrogen generation

Pure carbon nanodots (CNDs) without any modification and cocatalyst can drive photocatalytic hydrogen generation. The hydrogen generation rate of CNDs reaches 3615.3 mu mol g(-1) h(-1) when methanol was used as the sacrificial donor, which is 34.8 times higher than that of commercial Degussa P25 photocatalyst under the same conditions. Moreover, the CNDs show good stability; the hydrogen generation rate has negligible change even after four cycles of testing.