Design of earth-abundant Z-scheme g-C3N4/rGO/FeOOH ternary heterojunctions with excellent photocatalytic activity

Abstract

Iron is one of the most abundant elements on the surface of the earth (5.1%), but is rarely used for photocatalytic hydrogen production due to its unsuitable band structure. Herein, a ternary Z-scheme g-C₃N₄/rGO/FeOOH heterostructure photocatalyst for hydrogen production was designed and fabricated. Due to its narrow bandgap and a low oxygen evolution overpotential of FeOOH, the Z-scheme g-C₃N₄/rGO/FeOOH ternary heterojunction exhibited excellent photocatalytic hydrogen production with the yields of 124.9 and 869.8 μmol h⁻¹ g⁻¹ (244.9 and 107.4 times larger than that of pristine g-C₃N₄) under visible and UV-visible light irradiation, respectively. This work could expand the usage of the earth-abundant element for solar energy conversion and provide a new viewpoint for the development of high-performance photocatalysts through a rational design of the component of the heterostructure.