title: Tuning the morphology of g-C3N4 for improvement of Z-scheme photocatalytic water oxidation.
abstract: Solar-driven water oxidation is the key step for overall water splitting that efficiently harvests and converts solar energy into fuels; the development of a highly efficient photocatalyst that can mediate water oxidation has become an appealing challenge. Herein, we report a facile two-step process to decorate silver phosphate (Ag3PO4) particles on different types of graphitic carbon nitrides (g-C3N4) as composite photocatalysts for water oxidation. For all the Ag3PO4/g-C3N4 materials, an in situ Z-scheme is created by the generation of Ag nanoparticles which act as a cross-linking bridge between Ag3PO4 and g-C3N4 in the composite, resulting in better charge separation and higher catalytic performance. A detailed analysis emphasizes the importance of the g-C3N4 on the chemical, photophysical, and catalytic properties of the composite materials. Our results show that the alteration of the morphology dominates the performance of the composite materials.
authors.affiliation: †School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China.|‡Department of Colloid Chemistry, Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Science Park Golm, 14424 Potsdam, Germany.
authors.forename: Xiaofei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: ‡Department of Colloid Chemistry, Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Science Park Golm, 14424 Potsdam, Germany.
authors.forename: Zupeng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: ‡Department of Colloid Chemistry, Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Science Park Golm, 14424 Potsdam, Germany.
authors.forename: Jingsan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: †School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China.
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: †School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China.
authors.forename: Kangmin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: †School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jiang
keywords: Z-scheme; graphitic carbon nitrides; oxygen evolution; photocatalytic; silver phosphate; water splitting