A novel 2D/2D carbonized poly-(furfural alcohol)/g-C3N4 nanocomposites with enhanced charge carrier separation for photocatalytic H2 evolution

The development of low-cost, highly efficient carbon-based photocatalysts becomes a hot trend due to their special structures and unique electronic properties in the field of photocatalysis. Here, a novel 2D/2D carbon-based nanocomposite was constructed via mutual supporting strategy by using poly-(furfural alcohol) and melamine as the precursors. The introduction of carbonized poly-(furfural alcohol) (CPFA) in g-C3N4 system for 2D/2D structure construction not only increases the contact area of CPFA and g-C3N4 but also could act as electron-conducting channels, which facilitate the charge carriers transport and separation. Thus, this CPFA/g-C3N4 nanocomposite displays the dramatically enhanced photocatalytic H-2 evolution from water splitting. This work provides a new strategy for the development of low-cost, highly efficient carbon-based nanocomposites for the further promising applications in the field of clean and sustainable energy conversion. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.