Photothermalcatalytic Hydrogen Production by Continuous Gaseous Water Splitting over Ni3N/g-C3N4

The initiation of the water splitting reaction necessitates a considerable energy input and the associated energy barrier can be notably mitigated through the utilization of appropriate catalysts. Ni₃N/g-C₃N₄ catalyst was synthesized through a combination of thermal decomposition and hydrothermal synthesis techniques for photothermal water splitting reaction. The catalyst was characterized using XRD, HRTEM, UV–vis, XPS, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and photoluminescence (PL). It was observed that the Ni₃N promoter is uniformly dispersed on the g-C₃N₄ exerting no discernible influence on the surface structure and crystal phase of the g-C₃N₄.The incorporation of Ni₃N effectively decreases the resistance of g-C₃N₄, enhances the photocurrent intensity, facilitates the transfer of photogenerated electrons from g-C₃N₄ to Ni₃N, and suppresses the recombination of photogenerated carriers. Additionally, the findings from the photothermal water splitting experiments revealed that g-C₃N₄ decreased the activation energy to 71.23 kJ·mol⁻¹, while the Ni₃N promoter further lowered it to 19.73 kJ·mol⁻¹.