In situ growing of CoO nanoparticles on g-C3N4 composites with highly improved photocatalytic activity for hydrogen evolution

Abstract

CoO/g-C3N4 hybrid catalyst is facilely prepared for application to photocatalytic H2 evolution from water splitting by the vacuum rotation–evaporation and in situ thermal method. The physical and chemical properties of CoO/g-C3N4 are determined by a series of characterization methods. The g-C3N4 with 0.6 wt% Co loading exhibits superior photocatalytic hydrogen evolution activity with an H2 evolution amount of 23.25 mmol g−1 after 5 h. The obtained 0.6 wt% CoO/g-C3N4 can split water to generate 0.39 mmol g−1 H2 without sacrificial agent and noble metal, while the pure g-C3N4 is inactive under the same reaction conditions. The remarkable enhancement of photocatalytic H2 evolution activity of CoO/g-C3N4 composites is mainly ascribed to the effective separation of electron–hole pairs and charge transfer. The work creates new opportunities for the design of low-cost g-C3N4-based photocatalysts with high photocatalytic H2 evolution activity from overall water splitting.

Keywords

• coo nanoparticle
• photocatalytic hydrogen production
• g-c3n4