Dispersed conductive polymer nanoparticles on graphitic carbon nitride for enhanced solar-driven hydrogen evolution from pure water

Developing new methods to improve the photocatalytic activity of graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) for hydrogen (H2) evolution has attracted intensive research interests. Here, we report that the g-C3N4 exhibits photocatalytic activity for H2 evolution from pure water. And, the activity is dramatically improved by loading highly dispersed conductive polymer nanoparticles. The H2 evolution rate increases up to 50 times for g-C3N4 with 1.5 wt% polypyrrole (PPy) nanoparticles on the surface. The reaction proceeding in a pure water system excludes the need for sacrificial agents. The role of the highly conductive PPy in enhancing H2 evolution is as a surface junction to increase the number of photoinduced electrons, and to facilitate electron transfer to the interface.