An Unusual Red Carbon Nitride to Boost the Photoelectrochemical Performance of Wide Bandgap Photoanodes

• DOI: 10.1002/adfm.201805698
• Publication Date: 2018-10-28T20:57:40Z
• Authors: Yilong Yang; Songcan Wang; Yalong Jiao; Zhiliang Wang; Mu Xiao; Aijun Du; Yongli Li; Jinshu Wang; Lianzhou Wang
• Keywords: Photocurrent; Carbon nitride; Nanorod; Wide-bandgap semiconductor

Abstract Tuning the bandgap of a semiconductor to achieve strong band‐to‐band visible light absorption is highly desirable but challenging for photocatalysis. This work presents facile molten‐salt‐assisted route prepare red‐colored polymerized carbon nitride (RPCN) nanosheets with remarkable redshifted and narrowed 1.9 eV. Both experimental findings theoretical calculations reveal that alkali heteroatoms are effective tune surface electronic structures nitride, resulting in significantly reduced excellent solubility. The RPCN‐sensitized TiO 2 nanorod‐based photoanode generates an impressive photocurrent density ≈2.33 mA cm −1 at 1.23 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode under Air Mass 1.5 G illumination without any cocatalyst, which 2.6 folds higher than bare photoanode. new this could inspire structure engineering photocatalysts greatly enhance provide generic strategy photoelectrochemical performance wide‐bandgap photoelectrodes.