Embedding of stereo molecular scaffold into the planar g-C3N4 nanosheets for efficient photocatalytic hydrogen evolution under ordinary pressure

Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4), as an organic polymer semiconductor, has been the focus of photocatalysts due to its physical and chemical stability, low cost and non-toxicity. However, pristine g-C3N4 also has many drawbacks, such as small specific surface area and easy recombination of photoexcited carriers, which hampered its practical application. In this work, we first propose a design idea of embedding stereo molecular scaffold into g-C3N4 framework with a facile copolymerization method for better exfoliating g-C3N4 to reach a better photocatalytic hydrogen evolution under ordinary pressure. The stereo molecular scaffold looses the interlayer stacking of bulk g-C3N4, benefitting the exfoliation of g-C3N4. The hydrogen evolution activity of stereo molecular scaffold doped g-C3N4 (AMCN-3-E) is about 7.54 times higher than that of the pristine MCN, which may due to the activated π → π* and n → π* electron transitions, creating more electron transition paths and accelerating the separation of photoexcited electrons and holes.