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

Abstract

Developing novel methods to prepare g-C3N4 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-C3N4 nanocomposites with significantly enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen evolution behaviors. The Ag/g-C3N4 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-C3N4 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-C3N4. This work highlights a feasible but simple strategy for the preparation of g-C3N4 nanocomposite fibers with enhanced photocatalytic activity.