Nature-Inspired Environmental "phosphorylation" Boosts Photocatalytic H2 Production over Carbon Nitride Nanosheets under Visible-Light Irradiation

Abstract

Inspired by the crucial roles of phosphates in natural photosynthesis, we explored an environmental "phosphorylation" strategy for boosting photocatalytic H2 production over g-C3N4 nanosheets under visible light. As expected, a substantial improvement was observed in the rate of H2 evolution to 947μmol h-1, and the apparent quantum yield was as high as 26.1 % at 420nm. The synergy of enhanced proton reduction and improved hole oxidation is proposed to account for the markedly increased activity. Our findings may provide a promising and facile approach to highly efficient photocatalysis for solar-energy conversion.