Microwave heating assisted synthesis of novel SnSe/g-C3N4 composites for effective photocatalytic H2 production

• Published in: Journal of industrial and engineering chemistry (Seoul, Korea) Vol. 80; pp. 74 - 82
• Main Authors: Chen, Pengfei, Dai, Xiaoquan, Xing, Pingxing, Zhao, Xinyue, Zhang, Qingle, Ge, Shifeng, Si, Jianxiao, Zhao, Leihong, He, Yiming
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 25.12.2019; 한국공업화학회
• Subjects: g-C3N4; H2 production; Microwave heating; Photocatalysis; SnSe; 화학공학; g-C3N4; H2 production; SnSe; Microwave heating; Photocatalysis
• ISSN: 1226-086X; 1876-794X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jiec.2019.07.033

[Display omitted] •SnSe/g-C3N4 was prepared in 35min via a microwave heating method.•The spontaneous dispersion of SnSe on g-C3N4 during heating process was observed.•SnSe/g-C3N4 presented much better performance in H2 evolution than g-C3N4.•The enhanced charge separation was the key factor of the high photoactivity. Novel SnSe/g-C3N4 photocatalysts were one-step synthesized via a microwave heating assisted process in 35min with SnSe and melamine as precursors. The as-synthesized SnSe/g-C3N4 worked very well in H2 evolution via photocatalysis. Under simulated sunlight, the best SnSe/g-C3N4 sample displayed a H2-production velocity of 1064μmolg−1h−1, which is 1.8 folds faster than that of neat g-C3N4. Similar promotion effect was also observed under visible light. To reveal the nature behind the high photoactivity, a thorough investigation was performed. XRD and XPS experiments proved the binary constitution of the composite. DRS experiment demonstrated that the addition of SnSe improved the photoabsorption performance. N2-adsorption analysis showed that the SnSe/g-C3N4 photocatalyst presented similar surface area as g-C3N4. TEM experiments showed that some bulk SnSe were spontaneously decomposed to nanoparticles and finely dispersed in g-C3N4 during the microwave heating process. These SnSe nanoparticles were believed to be the active phase and constructed a heterojunction structure with g-C3N4, resulting in the enhanced charge separation. This conclusion was considered as the key factor leading to the high H2-evolution performance and was further confirmed by the PL, EIS, and PC experiments. The present work provides a feasible and rapid method for the construction of g-C3N4 based photocatalysts.