Issue 8, 2017

Surface engineering of graphitic carbon nitride polymers with cocatalysts for photocatalytic overall water splitting

Abstract

Graphitic carbon nitride based polymers, being metal-free, accessible, environmentally benign and sustainable, have been widely investigated for artificial photosynthesis in recent years for the photocatalytic splitting of water to produce hydrogen fuel. However, the photocatalytic stoichiometric splitting of pure water into H2 and O2 with a molecular ratio of 2 : 1 is far from easy, and is usually hindered by the huge activation energy barrier and sluggish surface redox reaction kinetics. Herein, we provide a concise overview of cocatalyst modified graphitic carbon nitride based photocatalysts, with our main focus on the modulation of the water splitting redox reaction kinetics. We believe that a timely and concise review on this promising but challenging research topic will certainly be beneficial for general readers and researchers in order to better understand the property–activity relationship towards overall water splitting, which could also trigger the development of new organic architectures for photocatalytic overall water splitting through the rational control of surface chemistry.

Graphical abstract: Surface engineering of graphitic carbon nitride polymers with cocatalysts for photocatalytic overall water splitting

Article information

Article type
Perspective
Submitted
20 Apr 2017
Accepted
06 Jun 2017
First published
06 Jun 2017
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2017,8, 5261-5274

Surface engineering of graphitic carbon nitride polymers with cocatalysts for photocatalytic overall water splitting

G. Zhang, Z. Lan and X. Wang, Chem. Sci., 2017, 8, 5261 DOI: 10.1039/C7SC01747B

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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