Enhanced Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution of the Hydrogenated Deficient g‐C3N4 via Surface Hydrotreating

Abstract Unreacted amino groups (−NH x ) existed in the bulk g‐C 3 N 4 always act as charge trap sites which resulting in low photocatalytic activity. In this paper, the hydrogenated deficient g‐C 3 N 4 (HDCN) was prepared by calcining bulk g‐C 3 N 4 with NaBH 4 under an inert atmosphere. It was found that −NH x groups were absolutely reduced into both nitrogen vacancies and the cyano groups (−C≡N groups) in the frameworks of g‐C 3 N 4 after this surface hydrotreating. Therefore, the photo‐induced carrier recombination is suppressed dues to the disappeared −NH x groups. As a result, the HDCN sample displayed a higher photocatalytic H 2 evolution activity than the bulk g‐C 3 N 4 .