Boron/oxygen-codoped graphitic carbon nitride nanomesh for efficient photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

The integration of the construction of a novel structure and hetero-element doping in g-C3N4 photocatalyst is highly attractive in achieving high photocatalytic activities. Herein, boron/oxygen-codoped graphitic carbon nitride nanomesh (BO-C3N4 nanomesh) was designed and high throughout prepared via two steps doping & etching strategy. The obtained BO-C3N4 nanomesh exhibited a typical two-dimensional porous nanostructure, giving an enlarged specific surface area up to 160.58 m2 g−1. Moreover, the bandgap was harnessed by the codoping element (Boron and Oxygen) with different electronegativity. The light-harvesting capability and charge separation efficiency enhanced due to the synergistic interaction of nanomesh architecture and co-doping. Consequently, the BO-C3N4 nanomesh shows an outstanding photocatalytic hydrogen production of 9751 μmol h−1g−1 upon visible-light(λ > 420 nm) illumination, nearly 28 times as compared with that of bulk g-C3N4, with 8.1% apparent quantum efficiency at 420 nm and highly stable photocatalytic hydrogen production process over 20 h.