Bamboo-charcoal-loaded graphitic carbon nitride for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

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Crystalline graphitic carbon nitride is an excellent photocatalyst for hydrogen production due to its non-toxicity, stability, elemental abundance, and visible-light response. Herein, we present a new type of composite photocatalysts, eco-friendly bamboo-charcoal-loaded graphitic carbon nitrides to accelerate the separation of electron-hole pairs. The suitable loading of bamboo charcoal on graphitic carbon nitrides shows an increased specific surface area from 85 to 120 m2 g−1, and excellent visible-light photocatalytic hydrogen production activity of 4.1 mmol g−1 h−1, which is 2.3 times higher than that of pristine carbon nitride (1.8 mmol g−1 h−1). Under irradiation, the photogenerated electrons fast migrate from graphitic carbon nitride to bamboo charcoal through an ohmic contact between them, reducing the recombination of electron-hole pairs. This study highlights the effect of carbonaceous material loading on photocatalytic activity of carbon nitrides and opens an avenue to design efficient loaded photocatalysts with natural abundant materials.