Low-Cost Ni₃B/Ni(OH)₂ as an Ecofriendly Hybrid Cocatalyst for Remarkably Boosting Photocatalytic H₂ Production over g-C₃N₄ Nanosheets

Photocatalytic hydrogen (H 2 ) evolution is an appealing and promising means for productive solar-to-chemical energy conversion. g-C 3 N 4 (CN) is an exciting semiconductor, but its undesirable pristine activity seriously limited the potential for large-scale application. Herein, we, for the first time, demonstrated that the low-cost nickel boride (Ni 3 B)/nickel hydroxide (Ni(OH) 2 ) is an ecofriendly hybrid cocatalyst for remarkably boosting visible-light H 2 evolution over CN. The maximum H 2 evolution rate of CN–3%Ni 3 B–2%Ni(OH) 2 reaches 352.43 μmol g –1 h –1, with an apparent quantum efficiency of 0.70% at 405 nm, which is much higher than that of pure CN, only 0.1 μmol g –1 h –1 . In the cycling experiment, the ternary CN–3%Ni 3 B–2%Ni(OH) 2 shows relatively high stability in the triethanolamine solution. More importantly, the promoted charge separation and reduced overpotential were demonstrated to be responsible for the significantly boosted visible-light H 2 generation over CN nanosheet-based photocatalysts due to the loading of Ni 3 B/Ni(OH) 2 cocatalyst. It is believed that this study will provide a suitable strategy to rationally design a low-cost, facile-fabrication, and ecofriendly cocatalyst for efficient visible-light hydrogen evolution of CN nanosheet-based photocatalysts.