Design of earth-abundant Z-scheme g-C3N4/rGO/FeOOH ternary heterojunctions with excellent photocatalytic activity

Iron is one of the most abundant elements on the surface of the earth (5.1%), but is rarely used for photocatalytic hydrogen production due to its unsuitable band structure. Herein, a ternary Z-scheme g-C3N4/rGO/FeOOH heterostructure photocatalyst for hydrogen production was designed and fabricated. Due to its narrow bandgap and a low oxygen evolution overpotential of FeOOH, the Z-scheme g-C3N4/rGO/FeOOH ternary heterojunction exhibited excellent photocatalytic hydrogen production with the yields of 124.9 and 869.8 mu mol h(-1) g(-1) (244.9 and 107.4 times larger than that of pristine g-C3N4) under visible and UV-visible light irradiation, respectively. This work could expand the usage of the earth-abundant element for solar energy conversion and provide a new viewpoint for the development of high-performance photocatalysts through a rational design of the component of the heterostructure.

Automated summary

A ternary Z-scheme g-C3N4/rGO/FeOOH heterostructure photocatalyst was designed and fabricated, showing excellent photocatalytic hydrogen production performance. By rational design of the component of the heterostructure, this work could expand the usage of the earth-abundant element and provide a new viewpoint for the development of high-performance photocatalysts.