Synergetic effect of bismuth vanadate over copolymerized carbon nitride composites for highly efficient photocatalytic H2 and O2 generation

Asif Hayat; Muhammad Sohail; T A Taha; Sunil Kumar Baburao Mane; Abdullah G Al-Sehemi; Ahmed A Al-Ghamdi; W I Nawawi; Arkom Palamanit; Mohammed A Amin; Ahmed M Fallatah; Zeeshan Ajmal; Hamid Ali; Wasim Ullah Khan; Muhammad Wajid Shah; Javid Khan; S Wageh

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2022.07.012

Synergetic effect of bismuth vanadate over copolymerized carbon nitride composites for highly efficient photocatalytic H₂ and O₂ generation

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2022 Dec:627:621-629. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2022.07.012. Epub 2022 Jul 14.

Authors

Asif Hayat¹, Muhammad Sohail², T A Taha³, Sunil Kumar Baburao Mane⁴, Abdullah G Al-Sehemi⁵, Ahmed A Al-Ghamdi⁶, W I Nawawi⁷, Arkom Palamanit⁸, Mohammed A Amin⁹, Ahmed M Fallatah⁹, Zeeshan Ajmal¹⁰, Hamid Ali¹¹, Wasim Ullah Khan¹², Muhammad Wajid Shah¹³, Javid Khan¹⁴, S Wageh⁶

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Photocatalysis on Energy and Environment, College of Chemistry, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350116, China.
² Yangtze Delta Region Institute (Huzhou), University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Huzhou 313001, P.R. China.
³ Physics department, College of Science, Jouf University, P.O. Box: 2014, Sakaka, Saudi Arabia; Physics and Engineering Mathematics Department, Faculty of Electronic Engineering, Menoufia University, Menouf 32952, Egypt.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, Khaja Bandanawaz University, Kalaburagi, Karnataka 585104, India.
⁵ Research Center for Advanced Materials Science (RCAMS), King Khalid University, P.O. Box 9004, Abha 61413, Saudi Arabia; Department of Chemistry, College of Science, King Khalid University, P.O. Box 9004, Abha 61413, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia.
⁷ Faculty of Applied Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Cawangan Perlis, Arau Perlis 02600, Malaysia.
⁸ Energy Technology Program, Department of Specialized Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Prince of Songkla University, 15 Karnjanavanich Rd., Hat Yai, Songkhla 90110, Thailand.
⁹ Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Taif University, P.O. Box 11099, Taif 21944, Saudi Arabia.
¹⁰ School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xian, 710072, China.
¹¹ Multiscale Computational Materials Facility, Key Laboratory of Eco-Materials Advanced Technology, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350100, China.
¹² State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, PR China. Electronic address: wasimullah89@yahoo.com.
¹³ School Of Chemistry, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, PR China. Electronic address: m.wajidshah@gmail.com.
¹⁴ College of Materials Science and Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha, Hunan 410082, China. Electronic address: javidchemist@yahoo.com.

PMID: 35872419
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2022.07.012

Abstract

The development of copolymerized carbon nitride (CN)-based photocatalysts may support advances in photocatalytic overall water splitting. However, the recombination of charge carriers is the main bottleneck that reduces its overall photocatalytic activity. To overcome this problem, the construction of heterojunction technology has emerged as an effective approach to reduce the charge carrier recombination, thereby improving charge separation and transport efficiency. In this work, an innovative heterojunction was prepared between Quinolinic acid (QA) modified CN (CN-QA_x) and novel nanorod-shaped bismuth vanadate (BiVO₄) (BiVO₄/CN-QA_x) for overall water splitting through a simple in-situ solvent evaporation technique. The obtained results show that the synthesized samples have efficient and improved activities for releasing H₂ (862.1 μmol/h) and O₂ (31.58 μmol/h) under visible light irradiation. Furthermore, an exceptional apparent quantum yield (AQY) of 64.52 % has been recorded for BiVO₄/CN-QA_7.0 at 420 nm, which might be due to the substantial isolation of photoinducedcharge carriers. Therefore, this work opens up a new channel toward efficient CN-based photocatalysts in the sustainable energy production processes.

Keywords: Bismuth vanadate; Carbon nitride; Heterojunction; Overall water splitting; Quinolinic acid.