Benzene-Linked Polymeric Carbon Nitride for Enhanced Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production

Cross-linking with functional molecular species in polymeric carbon nitride (PCN) could offer a positive strategy that tunes its molecular structure with excellent conductivity to improve photocatalytic activity. Herein, the benzene ring-cross-linked photocatalyst is obtained via the polymerization of urea, melamine, and trimesic acid. Benzene ring-cross-linked PCN narrows the band gap and augments the push–pull effect of carriers, thus enhancing visible light harvesting and transfer easiness of photogenerated electron/hole pairs. Notably, the amount of trimesic acid was optimized during the benzene ring-cross-linked photocatalyst preparation (marked as 01T/A-CN, 02T/A-CN, and 03T/A-CN). Among them, 02T/A-CN photocatalyst achieved an excellent hydrogen production rate of 1931 μmol/h·g, which is higher than that of CN under visible light and beyond most reported. Theoretical calculations further confirmed that the introduction of benzene ring significantly reduces the band gap of PCN, bringing the delocalized electron, a longer intramolecular electron transition distance, and molecular bending. All those factors made benzene ring-cross-linked PCN with improved photocatalytic hydrogen production under visible light irradiation.