Visible Light-Driven Pure Water Splitting by a Nature-Inspired Organic Semiconductor-Based System

For the first time, it is demonstrated that the robust organic semiconductor g-C3N4 can be integrated into a nature-inspired water splitting system, analogous to PSII and PSI in natural photosynthesis. Two parallel systems have been developed for overall water splitting under visible light involving...

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Published inJournal of the American Chemical Society Vol. 136; no. 36; pp. 12568 - 12571
Main Authors Martin, David James, Reardon, Philip James Thomas, Moniz, Savio J. A, Tang, Junwang
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States American Chemical Society 10.09.2014
Subjects
carbon nitride
hydrogen
oxygen
oxygen production
photocatalysts
photosystem II
photovoltaic cells
semiconductors
tungsten oxide
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Summary:For the first time, it is demonstrated that the robust organic semiconductor g-C3N4 can be integrated into a nature-inspired water splitting system, analogous to PSII and PSI in natural photosynthesis. Two parallel systems have been developed for overall water splitting under visible light involving graphitic carbon nitride with two different metal oxides, BiVO4 and WO3. Consequently, both hydrogen and oxygen can be evolved in an ideal ratio of 2:1, and evolution rates in both systems have been found to be dependent on pH, redox mediator concentration, and mass ratio between the two photocatalysts, leading to a stable and reproducible H2 and O2 evolution rate at 36 and 18 μmol h–1 g–1 from water over 14 h. Our findings demonstrate g-C3N4 can serve as a multifunctional robust photocatalyst, which could also be used in other systems such as PEC cells or coupled solar cell systems.
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ISSN:0002-7863
1520-5126
1520-5126
DOI:10.1021/ja506386e