Dendritic mesoporous silica&titania nanospheres (DMSTNs) coupled with amorphous carbon nitride (ACN) for improved visible-light-driven hydrogen production

Dendritic mesoporous silica nanospheres (DMSNs) are very promising platforms for catalysis application and other catalytic materials can be decorated into their nanochannels. Herein, we present a strategy of introducing two types of catalytic components to DMSNs nanochannels for the first time. Initially, dendritic mesoporous silica&titania nanospheres (DMSTNs) were fabricated with spherical anatase titanium oxide (TiO 2 ) nanoparticles uniformly dispersed in dendritic channels. Then, multilayer amorphous carbon nitride (ACN) nanofilm was coated onto DMSTNs interfaces. The as-prepared heterogeneous DMSTNs/ACN photocatalysts maintain excellent dendritic architecture and display significantly improved visible-light response. DMSTNs/ACN can produce 9600 μmol·g −1 H 2 with a ca . 1900 μmol·g −1 ·h −1 rate in 5 h for water splitting under simulated sunlight condition, greater than those of DMSTNs and DMSNs. The novel catalyst can also generate 7.09 μmol·g −1 CO (49.10%) and 6.86 μmol·g −1 CH 4 (50.90%) in carbon dioxide reduction with its specific selectivity. This investigation opens up the possibility of adopting ACN-coated DMSTNs as novel photocatalysts for energy conversion in visible light environment.