TY - JOUR
T1 - Carbon-mediated electron transfer channel between SnO2 QDs and g-C3N4 for enhanced photocatalytic H2 production
AU - Yan, Jia
AU - Song, Zhilong
AU - Li, Hongping
AU - Xu, Hui
AU - Lee, Lawrence Yoon Suk
N1 - Funding Information:
We gratefully acknowledge the financial supports from the Innovation and Technology Commission of Hong Kong and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (1-BE0Y) . J. Y. acknowledges the support from Postdoctoral Fellowships Scheme from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (1-YW3J) and Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province ( BK20180887 ).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2021/12/1
Y1 - 2021/12/1
N2 - Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) is a promising material for photocatalytic water splitting but suffers from the self-agglomeration and fast recombination of photogenerated electron–hole pairs. Tin oxide (SnO2) has a high electron extraction ability and can play a key role in the charge separation and transfer dynamics of composites. Herein, we report a 0D/2D heterostructure of carbon-encapsulated SnO2 quantum dots (SnO2@C QDs) anchored on g-C3N4 nanosheets (SnO2@C/CN). The construction of interface between SnO2@C and g-C3N4 dramatically increases the surface area and the number of active sites for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and provides a driving force for efficient charge separation/transfer kinetics. The carbon layer encapsulating SnO2 QDs acts as a bridge that facilitates electron transfer from g-C3N4 to SnO2 QDs. The champion SnO2@C/CN achieves an exceptional HER rate of 2,544.3 μmol g−1 h−1 (with 3 wt% Pt) with an apparent quantum efficiency of 9.63 % (λ = 420 nm) and excellent photostability. A photoactivity enhancement mechanism is proposed based on the interfacial energy band alignment. This work provides insights into the designing of heterostructured photocatalysts of enhanced charge separation via interface engineering.
AB - Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) is a promising material for photocatalytic water splitting but suffers from the self-agglomeration and fast recombination of photogenerated electron–hole pairs. Tin oxide (SnO2) has a high electron extraction ability and can play a key role in the charge separation and transfer dynamics of composites. Herein, we report a 0D/2D heterostructure of carbon-encapsulated SnO2 quantum dots (SnO2@C QDs) anchored on g-C3N4 nanosheets (SnO2@C/CN). The construction of interface between SnO2@C and g-C3N4 dramatically increases the surface area and the number of active sites for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and provides a driving force for efficient charge separation/transfer kinetics. The carbon layer encapsulating SnO2 QDs acts as a bridge that facilitates electron transfer from g-C3N4 to SnO2 QDs. The champion SnO2@C/CN achieves an exceptional HER rate of 2,544.3 μmol g−1 h−1 (with 3 wt% Pt) with an apparent quantum efficiency of 9.63 % (λ = 420 nm) and excellent photostability. A photoactivity enhancement mechanism is proposed based on the interfacial energy band alignment. This work provides insights into the designing of heterostructured photocatalysts of enhanced charge separation via interface engineering.
KW - Carbon encapsulation
KW - Electron transport layer
KW - g-CN nanosheets
KW - Photocatalytic hydrogen production
KW - SnO quantum dots
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85112349045&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.cej.2021.131512
DO - 10.1016/j.cej.2021.131512
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85112349045
SN - 1385-8947
VL - 425
JO - Chemical Engineering Journal
JF - Chemical Engineering Journal
M1 - 131512
ER -
