Synergistic enhancement of photocatalytic H2 production by Ni decorated 2D bubble-like carbon nitride

Abstract In this paper, a novel 2D bubble-like g-C3N4 (B–CN) with a highly porous and crosslinked structure is successfully synthesized via a cost-effective bottom-up process. The as-prepared B–CN photocatalyst delivers a considerably expanded specific surface area and increased active sites. Moreover, the 2D bubble-like structure can afford shortened diffusion paths for both photogenerated charge carriers and reactants. As a result, the photocatalytic H2 evolution rate of B–CN reached 268.9 μmol g−1 h−1, over 5 times more than that of bulk C3N4. The Ni ions were further deposited on B–CN as a cocatalyst to enhance the photocatalytic activity. Benefit from the synergy of 2D bubble-like structure and Ni species cocatalyst, recombination of photoinduced charges was greatly inhibited and the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) was significantly accelerated. The resulted catalyst achieved a dramatically high H2 evolution rate of 1291 μmol g−1 h−1. This work provides an alternative way to synthesize novel porous carbon nitride together with non-noble metal cocatalysts toward enhanced photocatalytic activity for H2 production.