Recently, it has been shown that an abundant material, polymeric carbon nitride, can produce hydrogen from water under visible‐light irradiation in the presence of a sacrificial donor. We present ...herein the preparation and characterization of graphitic carbon nitride (g‐C3N4) films on p‐type semiconducting CuGaSe2 chalcopyrite thin‐film substrates by thermal condensation of a dicyandiamide precursor under inert‐gas conditions. Structural and surface morphological studies of the carbon nitride films suggest a high porosity of g‐C3N4 thin films consisting of a network of nanocrystallites. Photoelectrochemical investigations show light‐induced hydrogen evolution upon cathodic polarization for a wide range of proton concentrations in the aqueous electrolyte. Additionally, synchrotron radiation‐based photoelectron spectroscopy has been applied to study the surface/near‐surface chemical composition of the utilized g‐C3N4 film photocathodes. For the first time, it has been shown that g‐C3N4 films coated on p‐type CuGaSe2 thin films can be successfully applied as new photoelectrochemical composite photocathodes for light‐induced hydrogen evolution.
Trip the light fantastic: Graphitic carbon nitride films coated on p‐type CuGaSe2 thin films can be successfully applied as new photoelectrochemical composite photocathodes for light‐induced hydrogen evolution (see picture). The surface/near‐surface chemical composition of the new photocathode is investigated by synchrotron radiation‐based photoelectron spectroscopy.
On page 7993, C. Merschjann and co‐workers use transient photoluminescence to study charge transport in semiconducting polymeric graphitic carbon nitrides, finding that electrons and holes show ...surprisingly high mobilities. Furthermore, they move predominantly along channels perpendicular to the graphitic sheet structure. Thus, carbon nitrides effectively complement 2D materials like graphene, opening potential routes for novel organic electronic devices.
Very recently, it has been shown that an abundant material, polymeric carbon nitride, can produce hydrogen from water under visible-light irradiation in the presence of a sacrificial donor 1. We will ...present here the preparation and characterization of graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) films on semiconducting substrates by thermal condensation of dicyandiamide precursor under inert gas conditions. Structural and surface morphological studies of the carbon nitride films suggest a high porosity of g-C3N4 thin film consisting of a network of nanocrystallites. Photo-electrochemical investigations show upon cathodic polarization light-induced hydrogen evolution for a wide range of proton concentrations in the aqueous electrolyte. Additionally, Synchrotron radiation based photoelectron spectroscopy has been applied to study the surface/near-surface chemical composition of the utilized g-C3N4 film photocathodes. For the first time it is shown that g-C3N4 films can be successfully applied as photoelectrochemical material for light induced hydrogen evolution. 1X. Wang, K. Maeda, A. Thomas, K. Takanabe, G. Xin, J. M. Carlsson, K. Domen, M. Antonietti, Nature Mat. 2009, 8, 76-80.
PDF
