Surface-assisted synthesis of biomass carbon-decorated polymer carbon nitride for efficient visible light photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

Template is frequently studied as a structure-directing agent to tune the nanomorphology of photocatalysts. However, the influences of template on the polymerization of precursors and compositions of the resulting samples are rarely considered. Herein, a biomass carbon-modified graphitic carbon nitride (CCNx) with a thin-layer morphology is synthesized via one-pot surface-assisted polymerization of melamine precursor on organic yeast. The formation of the hydrogen bond between melamine and yeast induces a strong interfacial confinement, giving rise to small-sized CCNx. In addition, the carbon materials derived from yeast dramatically broaden n ? p* visible light harvesting, improve electron delocalization, and greatly enhance charge carrier separation. The optimized CCNx presents a much higher photocatalytic hydrogen production rate of 2704 lmol g-1h-1 under visible light irradiation (k > 420 nm), which is nearly 11-fold that of its pristine counterpart. This work realizes the synergistic effect between morphology tunning and composition tailoring by using biomass template, which shows a great potential in developing efficient metal-free photocatalysts.(c) 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

Template is commonly used to tune the nanomorphology of photocatalysts, but its influence on precursor polymerization and composition is often overlooked. In this study, a biomass carbon-modified graphitic carbon nitride (CCNx) with a thin-layer morphology was synthesized via one-pot surface-assisted polymerization. The hydrogen bond between melamine and yeast induced strong interfacial confinement, resulting in small-sized CCNx particles. Additionally, the carbon materials derived from yeast significantly improved visible light harvesting, electron delocalization, and charge carrier separation. The optimized CCNx exhibited a much higher photocatalytic hydrogen production rate under visible light irradiation, showing the potential of biomass templates in developing efficient metal-free photocatalysts.