Forming heterojunction: An effective strategy to enhance the photocatalytic efficiency of a new metal-free organic photocatalyst for water splitting

Abstract

Photocatalytic water splitting is a new technology for the conversion and utilization of solar energy and has a potential prospect. One important aspect of enhancing the photocatalytic efficiency is how to improve the electron-hole separation. Up to now, there is still no ideal strategy to improve the electron-hole separation. In this article, for metal-free organic photocatalysts, we propose a good strategy- forming heterojunction, which can effectively improve the electron-hole separation. We provide a metal-free organic photocatalyst g-C12N7H3 for water splitting. The stability of g-C12N7H3 has been investigated, the X-ray diffraction spectra has been simulated. Using first-principles calculations, we have systematically studied the electronic structure, band edge alignment, and optical properties for the g-C12N7H3. The results demonstrated that g-C12N7H3 is a new organocatalyst material for water splitting. In order to enhance the photocatalytic efficiency, we provided four strategies, i.e., multilayer stacking, raising N atoms, forming g-C9N10/g-C12N7H3 heterojunction, and forming graphene/g- C12N7H3 heterojunction. Our research is expected to stimulate experimentalists to further study novel 2D metal-free organic materials as visible light photocatalysts. Our strategies, especially forming heterojunction, will substantially help to enhance the photocatalytic efficiency of metal-free organic photocatalyst.