Ni(OH)2 decorated g-C3N4 tubes for precious metal free photocatalytic H2 evolution and the investigation of charge storage mechanism of Ni(OH)2

作者：Xu, Qiuyue; Qiu, Xianhua; Zhang, Weibo; Zheng, Huitao; Wang, Shuai; Yang, Shengfu; Chen, Pinghua^*; Jiang, Hualin^*

来源：Diamond and Related Materials, 2023, 140: 110524.

DOI：10.1016/j.diamond.2023.110524

• Photocatalytic hydrogen evolution
• Ni(OH)2
• Co-catalyst

Precious metal-free photocatalytic H2 evolution (PHE) has been the focus in the PHE field. Herein we report a heterojunction of Ni(OH)2 decorated g-C3N4 tubes (g-C3N4/Ni(OH)2) facilely constructed by hydrothermal process and precipitation, which shows high visible-light photocatalytic performance compared to conventional g-C3N4. The characteristics of the tubular g-C3N4/Ni(OH)2, such as morphology, chemical structure, phase structure, optical and electrochemical properties, were carefully investigated. The results demonstrated Ni(OH)2 as an effective co-catalyst that can store photogenerated charges to promote the separation of photoinduced hole electron pairs during the photocatalytic process and thus enhance the H2 generation during photocatalytic water decomposition. This work presents the use of non-noble metals Ni(OH)2 as a promising alternative to precious metals (such as Pt and Au) as the co-catalysts in PHE and uncovers the charge storage mechanism of Ni(OH)2 could be extended to other cheap metals.

• 单位
  南昌航空大学; 1; 南昌大学; 中国环境科学研究院