Fabrication of 0D/2D TiO2 Nanodots/g-C3N4 S-scheme heterojunction photocatalyst for efficient photocatalytic overall water splitting

• DOI: 10.1016/j.apsusc.2021.151287
• Publication Date: 2021-09-15T02:12:13Z
• Authors: Yabin Jiang; Zongzhao Sun; Qianwen Chen; Chi Cao; Yun Zhao; Wensheng Yang; Lei Zeng; Limin Huang
• Keywords: 02 engineering and technology; 0210 nano-technology; 7. Clean energy

Abstract It is a considerable challenge to design a highly efficient photocatalyst for overall water splitting. Herein, a zero-dimension/two-dimension (0D/2D) TiO2 nanodots/g-C3N4 step-scheme (S-scheme) photocatalyst (TOCN) for overall water splitting was prepared by a facile phase interfacial reaction. TOCN showed higher photocatalytic water splitting activity under simulated sunlight, which is about 2.2 and 1.7 times higher than TiO2 nanodots and g-C3N4, respectively. The enhancement of photocatalytic performance can be mainly attributed to the formation of S-scheme heterojunction, rather than normal type-II heterojunction, which could not only improve charge separation but also remain the redox ability of TiO2 and g-C3N4. This work presents a simple method to construct an efficient photocatalyst with S-Scheme heterojunction for overall water splitting.