Porous g-C3N4/WO3 photocatalyst prepared by simple calcination for efficient hydrogen generation under visible light

A novel porous g-C 3 N 4 /WO 3 photocatalyst was successfully obtained by adopting urea and WO 3 ⋅0.33H 2 O as precursor by a simple hydrothermal and calcination method. The structural characteristics, photoelectric properties , and hydrogen generation efficiency of g-C 3 N 4 /WO 3 were studied. The results shows that best photocatalytic hydrogen generation efficiency of the g-C3N 4 /WO 3 was 963 μmol −1  h −1 , it was about 3 times than pure g-C 3 N 4 . Hydrated tungsten oxide promotes the formation of porous structure after removing crystal water, and the increased pore volume and pore size provide more reactive activity sites, which contribute to increase the efficiency of hydrogen generation. The mechanism of photocatalytic hydrogen generation was proposed.