Facile Gel-Based Morphological Control of Ag/<i>g</i>-C₃N₄ Porous Nanofibers for Photocatalytic Hydrogen Generation

Abstract

Developing novel methods to prepare g -C 3 N 4 nanocomposites with controlled morphologies is highly desirable because this type of material has been widely studied as a promising photocatalyst. In this report, we develop a new and facile supramolecular hydrogel approach as a self-template to fabricate porous nanofiber-type Ag / g -C 3 N 4 nanocomposites with significantly enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen evolution behaviors. The Ag / g -C 3 N 4 nanofibers possess high specific surface areas, extended absorption in the visible light region, and promoted photoinduced electron–hole separation capability. The as-prepared porous fiber-type Ag / g -C 3 N 4 exhibits highly efficient hydrogen evolution under visible-light illumination (625 μmol h –1 g –1 ), which could reach nearly 6.6 times that of the pristine g -C 3 N 4 . This work highlights a feasible but simple strategy for the preparation of g -C 3 N 4 nanocomposite fibers with enhanced photocatalytic activity.