Rationally Designed Copper‐Modified Polymeric Carbon Nitride as a Photocathode for Solar Water Splitting

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Abstract
Polymeric carbon nitride has been considered to be an active photocathode for catalyzing the generation of H2 through water splitting. However, the application of this material in photoelectrochemical cells remains a challenge owing to the intrinsically sluggish kinetics of charge separation. Herein, a facile salt‐melt method is developed for fabricating Cu‐modified polymeric carbon nitride as an effective photocathode material for solar water splitting. Various characterization data confirm that Cu‐modified polymeric carbon nitride contains both free CuCl, derived from precursors, and coordinated Cu species incorporated into the polymeric carbon nitride, which can generate type‐II heterojunctions. This special heterojunction energy structure contributes to a significantly enhanced photocurrent density for hydrogen evolution. The proposed strategy for synthesizing the Cu‐modified polymeric carbon nitride can stimulate research for the development of highly efficient visible‐light‐active photocathodes.
Funding Information
  • National Research Foundation of Korea (2016R1A2A1A05005216, 2016M3D3A1A01913254, 2015M1A2A2074663)

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