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Rationally Designed Copper-Modified Polymeric Carbon Nitride as a Photocathode for Solar Water Splitting
Zhonghao Wang1, Bingjun Jin2, Guojun Zou1
1National Engineering Research Center for Fine Petrochemical Intermediates, State Key Laboratory for Oxo Synthesis and Selective Oxidation, Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, 730000, P. R. China.
Abstract:
Polymeric carbon nitride has been considered to be an active photocathode for catalyzing the generation of H2 through water splitting. However, the application of this material in photoelectrochemical cells remains a challenge owing to the intrinsically sluggish kinetics of charge separation. Herein, a facile salt-melt method is developed for fabricating Cu-modified polymeric carbon nitride as an effective photocathode material for solar water splitting. Various characterization data confirm that Cu-modified polymeric carbon nitride contains both free CuCl, derived from precursors, and coordinated Cu species incorporated into the polymeric carbon nitride, which can generate type-II heterojunctions. This special heterojunction energy structure contributes to a significantly enhanced photocurrent density for hydrogen evolution. The proposed strategy for synthesizing the Cu-modified polymeric carbon nitride can stimulate research for the development of highly efficient visible-light-active photocathodes.
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