Novel g-C₃N₄/CoO Nanocomposites with Significantly Enhanced Visible-Light Photocatalytic Activity for H₂ Evolution

Abstract

Novel g-C₃N₄/CoO nanocomposite application for photocatalytic H₂ evolution were designed and fabricated for the first time in this work. The structure and morphology of g-C₃N₄/CoO were investigated by a wide range of characterization methods. The obtained g-C₃N₄/CoO composites exhibited more-efficient utilization of solar energy than pure g-C₃N₄ did, resulting in higher photocatalytic activity for H₂ evolution. The optimum photoactivity in H₂ evolution under visible-light irradiation for g-C₃N₄/CoO composites with a CoO mass content of 0.5 wt % (651.3 μmol h^-1 g^-1) was up to 3 times as high as that of pure g-C₃N₄ (220.16 μmol h^-1 g^-1). The remarkably increased photocatalytic performance of g-C₃N₄/CoO composites was mainly attributed to the synergistic effect of the junction or interface formed between g-C₃N₄ and CoO.