Noble-Metal-Free NixSy-C3N5 Hybrid Nanosheet with Highly Efficient Photocatalytic Performance

The construction of highly efficient, low-cost and noble-metal-free photocatalysts depends on photocatalytic technology. Recently, N-rich C3N5 has been explored as a novel carbon nitride material with a much narrower band gap (similar to 2.2 eV) than that of traditional C3N4 (similar to 2.7 eV). Planting noble-metal-free active sites on C3N5 to improve its photocatalytic activity is of great significance. Herein, 2D NixSy nanosheet is facially loaded on 2D C3N5 using a hydrothermal procedure under a low temperature. Due to the quick separation of photogenerated carries between C3N5 and NixSy, this inexpensive noble-metal-free NixSy-C3N5 hybrid nanosheet is highly efficient and stable as a multifunctional catalyst in various applications, including photocatalytic H-2 production from water and NO removal. Impressively, the apparent quantum yield (AQY) value for H-2 production reaches 37.0% (at 420 nm) on optimal NixSy-C3N5 hybrids, which is much higher than that of Pt-C3N5 material. This work opens an avenue to the fabrication of low-cost and noble-metal-free catalysts for multifunctional photocatalytic applications.

Automated summary

The study successfully developed a low-cost, efficient, and stable noble-metal-free photocatalyst by loading NixSy nanosheets onto C3N5, demonstrating outstanding performance in various applications such as hydrogen production from water and NO removal.