Boron-doped nitrogen-deficient carbon nitride-based Z-scheme heterostructures for photocatalytic overall water splitting

Splitting water using suspensions of particulate carbon nitride-based photocatalysts may be a cheap way to produce hydrogen, but efficiencies have remained low. Now, Shen and colleagues use doped carbon nitride-based Z-scheme heterostructures to split water with a solar-to-hydrogen efficiency of 1.1% in the presence of metal-based co-catalysts. Photocatalytic overall water splitting can be achieved using Z-scheme systems that mimic natural photosynthesis by combining dissimilar semiconductors in series. However, coupling well-suited H-2- and O-2-evolving components remains challenging. Here, we fabricate a Z-scheme system for photocatalytic overall water splitting based on boron-doped, nitrogen-deficient carbon nitride two-dimensional (2D) nanosheets. We prepare ultrathin carbon nitride nanosheets with varying levels of boron dopants and nitrogen defects, which leads to nanosheets that can act as either H-2- or O-2-evolving photocatalysts. Using an electrostatic self-assembly strategy, the nanosheets are coupled to obtain a 2D/2D polymeric heterostructure. Owing to their ultrathin nanostructures, strong interfacial interaction and staggered band alignment, a Z-scheme route for efficient charge-carrier separation and transfer is realized. The obtained heterostructure achieves stoichiometric H-2 and O-2 evolution in the presence of Pt and Co(OH)(2) co-catalysts, and the solar-to-hydrogen efficiency reaches 1.16% under one-sun illumination.

Automated summary

Researchers have successfully used doped carbon nitride-based Z-scheme heterostructures to split water and produce hydrogen, but coupling suitable H-2 and O-2 evolution components remains challenging.