Photocatalytic hydrogen production over carbon nitride loaded with WS2 as cocatalyst under visible light

• Published in: Applied catalysis. B, Environmental Environmental, 2014-09, Vol.156-157, p.122-127
• Main Authors: Hou, Yidong, Zhu, Yongsheng, Xu, Yan, Wang, Xinchen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Carbon nitride; Catalysis; Chemistry; Cocatalyst; Exact sciences and technology; General and physical chemistry; Photocatalytic H2 evolution; Photochemistry; Physical chemistry of induced reactions (with radiations, particles and ultrasonics); Theory of reactions, general kinetics. Catalysis. Nomenclature, chemical documentation, computer chemistry; WS2
• ISSN: 0926-3373; 1873-3883
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apcatb.2014.03.002

The enhanced photocatalytic H2 evolution over WS2/mpg-CN mainly owns to the thin layered junctions formed between WS2 and mpg-CN and the excellent performance of WS2 as a cocatalyst in catalyzing H2 evolution. •Mesoporous graphitic carbon nitride (mpg-CN) was loaded with WS2 via an impregnation–sulfidation approach.•WS2/mpg-CN showed enhanced photocatalytic activity for H2 evolution.•WS2 played an important role in catalyzing H2 production.•The reaction mechanism of photocatalytic H2 production over WS2/mpg-CN was proposed. Mesoporous graphitic$ carbon nitride (mpg-CN) was loaded with WS2 via an impregnation–sulfidation approach. The resultant surface heterojunctions between WS2 and mpg-CN were evidently confirmed with transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Photocatalytic H2 production on WS2/mpg-CN under visible light (λ>420nm) shows that WS2 plays an important role in catalyzing H2 production. The rate of hydrogen evolution reaches an optimum when the loading amount of WS2 is about 0.3at.%. Combined with the physicochemical and electrocatalytic properties of WS2/mpg-CN, it can be concluded that the enhanced photocatalytic H2 production activity on WS2/mpg-CN is mainly attributed to the thin layered junctions formed between WS2 and mpg-CN and the great performance of WS2 as a cocatalyst in H2 evolution reaction.