Uniform Pt quantum dots-decorated porous g-C3N4 nanosheets for efficient separation of electron-hole and enhanced solar-driven photocatalytic performance

Fanfei Sun; Siyu Tan; Hao Zhang; Zipeng Xing; Ruoou Yang; Bingbao Mei; Zheng Jiang

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2018.07.047

Uniform Pt quantum dots-decorated porous g-C₃N₄ nanosheets for efficient separation of electron-hole and enhanced solar-driven photocatalytic performance

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2018 Dec 1:531:119-125. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2018.07.047. Epub 2018 Jul 18.

Authors

Fanfei Sun¹, Siyu Tan², Hao Zhang¹, Zipeng Xing³, Ruoou Yang¹, Bingbao Mei¹, Zheng Jiang⁴

Affiliations

¹ Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics (SINAP), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201204, China.
² Department of Environmental Science, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Heilongjiang University, Harbin 150080, China.
³ Department of Environmental Science, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Heilongjiang University, Harbin 150080, China. Electronic address: xingzipeng@hlju.edu.cn.
⁴ Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics (SINAP), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201204, China. Electronic address: jiangzheng@sinap.ac.cn.

PMID: 30029030
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2018.07.047

Abstract

Uniform Pt quantum dots-decorated porous g-C₃N₄ nanosheets (Pt/CN) are fabricated by a facile impregnation-ultrasonic-calcination method, using melamine as precursor. The as-prepared samples are evidently investigated by X-ray diffraction, UV-vis diffuse reflection spectra, N₂ adsorption, transmission electron microscope, surface photovoltage spectroscopy and photoluminescence. The deposited Pt quantum dots with particle size of ∼5 nm are decorated on the surface of porous g-C₃N₄ nanosheets uniformly. The Pt/CN nanosheets show conspicuous solar-driven photocatalytic activity for splitting water to produce H₂. The solar-driven photocatalytic hydrogen production rate of Pt/CN is up to ∼107 μmol h^-1 g^-1, which is about 5 times higher than that of pristine g-C₃N₄. The enhancement can be attributed to the porous structure offering adequate surface active sites and the efficient decoration of uniform Pt quantum dots on g-C₃N₄ nanosheets facilitating the separation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs, which is confirmed by surface photovoltage spectroscopy and photoluminescence. The strategy for fabricating Pt quantum dots-decorated g-C₃N₄ nanosheets offers new insights for constructing other high-performance quantum dot-semiconductor photocatalytic materials.

Keywords: Porous structure; Pt quantum dot; Solar-driven photocatalysis; g-C(3)N(4).