SCHEDULED MAINTENANCE
Plasmonic photocatalyst Au/g-C3N4/NiFe2O4 nanocomposites for enhanced visible-light-driven photocatalytic hydrogen evolution†
Abstract
A Au/g-C3N4/NiFe2O4 nanocomposite was successfully prepared and characterized, and it exhibited a significant visible-light-driven photoactivity for hydrogen production. The results suggested that NiFe2O4 was closely coupled with flake-like g-C3N4 and Au nanoparticles were successfully loaded onto the surface of an optimal g-C3N4/NiFe2O4 nanocomposite. Subsequently, the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution of the as-prepared sample was investigated and optimized, indicating that the optimal Au/g-C3N4/NiFe2O4 ternary nanocomposite with AuNP loading of 1.0 wt% showed the highest hydrogen generation rate of 1.607 mmol g−1 h−1, which was 30.9 times and 28.7 times higher than the values of pure NiFe2O4 and pure g-C3N4, respectively, whereas the optimized g-C3N4/NiFe2O4 binary nanocomposite with NiFe2O4 coupled at 49.4% exhibited a hydrogen generation rate of 0.351 mmol g−1 h−1. Interestingly, the photocatalytic hydrogen production mechanism was also tentatively proposed as promoted charge carrier transfer and the strong surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect of AuNPs via PL, EIS and photocurrent measurements was verified.
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