One-step synthesis of nanostructured g-C3N4/TiO2 composite for highly enhanced visible-light photocatalytic H2 evolution

Abstract Improving the photocatalytic property of g-C3N4 by combined strategies has attracted increasing attention recently. In this work, we realized the structure nanosizing of g-C3N4 and its synchronous compounding with TiO2 nanoparticles in one step, using a facile melamine-involved vapor deposition method coupled with a simple and easy setup. Nanostructured g-C3N4/TiO2 heterojunction was well-established and the resultant nanocomposite demonstrated an excellent visible-light photocatalytic H2 evolution performance 10.8 times higher than that of bulk g-C3N4. The structure nanosizing coupled with the heterojunction construction contributed together to the improvement of photoinduced electron-hole separation and final photocatalytic efficiency. The proposed simple method and setup have the potential to be used for preparing other g-C3N4-based nanocomposites with advanced photocatalytic properties.