Bio-inspired carbon doped graphitic carbon nitride with booming photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

In this work, kapok fiber (KF), known as a versatile biomass, has been mixed with melamine to produce carbon modified graphitic carbon nitride (CCN) by one-step pyrolysis. The bio-char ribbon edges formed after the decomposition of KF act as the substrate for the epitaxial growth of CCN. The photocatalytic activity in hydrogen (H-2) generation from water splitting has been investigated. Nash Equilibrium from Game Theory has been firstly applied in the analysis of the H-2 generation rates among catalysts. The bio-char ribbon edges at the thin CN layers after carbon doping from KF decomposition improve the charge separation and transfer for the surface H-2 generation reaction. The CCN exhibits superior visible-light-driven photocatalytic activity and the H-2 evolution rate (18.89 mu mol/h) is 67.5 times higher than that of the pristine CN (0.28 mu mol/h). The apparent quantum yields are calculated to be 4.1%, 1.4%, 0.66% for monochromatic light lambda = 420, lambda = 470 and lambda = 550 tun, respectively.