Syed Aamir Hussain, Jun Hu, Fawad Aslam, Chenghui Hu, Hongyin Liu, Abid Ullah, Salman Khan, Feipeng Jiao
{"title":"Bandgap Modulation via Al Photodeposition on C-Doped g-C3N4 for Enhanced Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production","authors":"Syed Aamir Hussain, Jun Hu, Fawad Aslam, Chenghui Hu, Hongyin Liu, Abid Ullah, Salman Khan, Feipeng Jiao","doi":"10.1021/acs.iecr.5c01477","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"g-C<sub>3</sub>N<sub>4</sub> has drawn more and more attention because of its visible-light activity, facile synthesis from easily available and low-cost precursor materials, chemical stability, and layered structure. However, the photocatalytic activity of a pure g-C<sub>3</sub>N<sub>4</sub> photocatalyst is hindered by its narrow absorption range, small surface area, and fast electron–hole recombination rate. To cope with this issue, aluminum-deposited C-doped g-C<sub>3</sub>N<sub>4</sub> (Al<sub><i>n</i></sub>/C<sub>7.5</sub>-MA) was synthesized by the polycondensation of melamine and sucrose, followed by in situ photodeposition of Al. The XPS and EDX analyses confirmed the successful deposition of Al nanoparticles over the C<sub>7.5</sub>-MA surface. The synthesized photocatalyst was employed to generate hydrogen (H<sub>2</sub>) via photocatalytic water splitting. Al<sub>10</sub>/C<sub>7.5</sub>-MA showed the most significant photocatalytic efficiency, achieving an H<sub>2</sub> evolution rate of 14167 μmol g<sup>–1</sup> h<sup>–1</sup>, which is 1.6 and 11.5 times greater than that of C-doped g-C<sub>3</sub>N<sub>4</sub> and pristine g-C<sub>3</sub>N<sub>4</sub>, respectively. The comprehensive analysis demonstrated that C-doping followed by deposition of Al considerably narrowed its bandgap, expanded the light absorption range, boosted photoresponse, and improved photogenerated charge carrier separation due to the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect of Al. The findings emphasize the synergistic effect of C-doping and Al deposition in improving the photocatalytic ability of g-C<sub>3</sub>N<sub>4</sub>, presenting a viable approach for sustainable H<sub>2</sub> production under visible-light irradiation.","PeriodicalId":39,"journal":{"name":"Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research","volume":"89 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.8000,"publicationDate":"2025-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research","FirstCategoryId":"5","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.iecr.5c01477","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ENGINEERING, CHEMICAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
g-C3N4 has drawn more and more attention because of its visible-light activity, facile synthesis from easily available and low-cost precursor materials, chemical stability, and layered structure. However, the photocatalytic activity of a pure g-C3N4 photocatalyst is hindered by its narrow absorption range, small surface area, and fast electron–hole recombination rate. To cope with this issue, aluminum-deposited C-doped g-C3N4 (Aln/C7.5-MA) was synthesized by the polycondensation of melamine and sucrose, followed by in situ photodeposition of Al. The XPS and EDX analyses confirmed the successful deposition of Al nanoparticles over the C7.5-MA surface. The synthesized photocatalyst was employed to generate hydrogen (H2) via photocatalytic water splitting. Al10/C7.5-MA showed the most significant photocatalytic efficiency, achieving an H2 evolution rate of 14167 μmol g–1 h–1, which is 1.6 and 11.5 times greater than that of C-doped g-C3N4 and pristine g-C3N4, respectively. The comprehensive analysis demonstrated that C-doping followed by deposition of Al considerably narrowed its bandgap, expanded the light absorption range, boosted photoresponse, and improved photogenerated charge carrier separation due to the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect of Al. The findings emphasize the synergistic effect of C-doping and Al deposition in improving the photocatalytic ability of g-C3N4, presenting a viable approach for sustainable H2 production under visible-light irradiation.
期刊介绍:
ndustrial & Engineering Chemistry, with variations in title and format, has been published since 1909 by the American Chemical Society. Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research is a weekly publication that reports industrial and academic research in the broad fields of applied chemistry and chemical engineering with special focus on fundamentals, processes, and products.