Boron-doped graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets for enhanced visible light photocatalytic water splitting

A new type of boron-doped graphitic carbon nitride (B-g-C N ) nanosheets was prepared by a benign one-pot thermal polycondensation process. Systematic studies revealed that a B-doping amount of 1 at% into g-C N (1at%B-g-C N ) showed the best photocatalytic H evolution activity of 1880 μmol h g under visible light irradiation (>400 nm), which is more than 12 times that of the pristine g-C N bulk. Detailed characterizations revealed that the high photocatalytic performance could be attributed to the combination of band structure engineering and morphological control. B-doping not only reduces the band gap to absorb more visible light but also exhibits a higher surface area of B-g-C N (49.47 m g ) as compared to that of g-C N bulk (8.24 m g ), which subsequently improve the photocatalytic performance drastically. This work demonstrates a synergistic strategy to prepare efficient metal-free B-g-C N nanosheets as a promising photocatalyst for H evolution under visible light with good stability.