Construction of BiVO4/g-C3N4 nanoheterostructures with enhanced hydrogen production performance under visible-light irradiation

In this contribution, a Z-scheme mesoporous BiVO4/g-C3N4 nanocomposite heterojunction with a considerable surface area and high crystallinity was synthesized by a facile hydrothermal method. The photocatalytic efficiency of the BiVO4/g-C3N4 hybrids was monitored using visible light-driven hydrogen production, and the hybrids were characterized using XRD, TEM, UV-Vis DRS, and XPS. The results reveal that the assistance of BiVO4 and g-C3N4 during the fabrication process leads to synergy effects of not only the morphology but also the microstructure. These hybrids exhibit much higher hydrogen evolution efficiency (3761 mu molh(-1)g(-1)) than pure g-C3N4 (251 mu molh(-1)g(-1)) under visible-light illumination due to their improved light harvesting capability, enhancement of surface areas, and highly efficient electron transfer and separation. To our knowledge, no other papers on BiVO4/g-C3N4 based photocatalytic water oxidation have been reported. This work can provide new insights for synthesis of BiVO4/g-C3N4 based photocatalysts, and help us understand the hydrogen production performance.