Abstract

In the present work, graphitic carbon nitride-bismuth vanadate (g-C3N4-BiVO4) nanohybrid materials with different wt. % of gC3N4 were successfully synthesized by a simple hydrothermal method and characterized by UV-Visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), photoluminescence spectroscopy (PLS), Xray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy dispersive X-ray (EDAX) absorption spectroscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) and selected area electron diffraction (SAED) analysis. The photoelectrocatalytic performance of g-C3N4-BiVO4 nanohybrid materials were investigated by water splitting under AM 1.5G (100 mWcm 2) illumination. The g-C3N4-BiVO4 photoanode with 10 wt. % of g-C3N4 exhibited higher photoelectrocatalytic activity towards water splitting, which was 1.6 and 2.8-folds higher than that of the pure BiVO4 and g-C3N4, respectively. The remarkably enhanced photoelectrocatalytic activity of the nanohybrid is due to the efficient photogenerated electron-hole separation through Zscheme mechanism, enhanced interfacial charge transfer process and suppression in the charge recombination rate. Hence, the g-C3N4-BiVO4 nanohybrid materials can be potential candidates for light harvesting applications.