Direct Growth of Carbon Nitride (C3N3) Nanosheets on Copper Foam as an Efficient Catalytic Electrode for Electrochemical Hydrogen Evolution

Graphical C 3 N 3 /Cu foam catalyzed HER : Carbon nitride (C 3 N 3 ) nanosheets are directly grown on copper foam via a solvent-free vapor-solid phase reaction, which serves as an efficient catalytic electrode for (photo)electrochemical hydrogen evolution and shows outstanding performances with a low overpotential of 142 mV@10 mA cm −2 and a small Tafel slope of 75.5 mV dec −1 . The performances of C 3 N 3 nanosheets is further improved under simulated solar irradiation. In this work, carbon nitride (C 3 N 3 ) nanosheets are directly synthesized on copper foam via a solvent-free vapor-solid phase reaction. Electrochemical measurement results indicate that C 3 N 3 nanosheets achieve outstanding electrocatalytic performances with low overpotential (142 mV@10 mA cm −2 ) and small Tafel slope (75.5 mV dec −1 ), which are superior to most metal-free hydrogen evolution reaction electrocatalysts in acid medium reported so far. In addition, the electrocatalytic performances of C 3 N 3 nanosheets are further slightly improved under simulated solar irradiation. What's more, the synthetic strategy of C 3 N 3 nanosheets could be extended to other substance system. More importantly, our impressive work was expected to inspire more potential researches in the future.