Noble metal free few-layered perovskite-based Ba2NbFeO6 nanostructures on exfoliated g-C3N4 layers as highly efficient catalysts for enhanced solar fuel production

Abstract

Two-dimensional (2D) organic semiconductors, such as graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4), have gained extensive attention as a green alternative and possible route for photocatalytic applications due to their appropriate bandgap for the effective utilization of the visible light region. This paper presents the development of few-layered 2D exfoliated g-C3N4 nanosheets (eCN) by exfoliating stacked g-C3N4 layers (CNs) followed by incorporating inorganic perovskite-based Ba2NbFeO6 (BNF) nanostructures for solar fuel production. The optimized BNF/eCN composite material showed a high rate of solar fuel production, such as H-2 production (1677 mu mol.h(-1).g(-1)), which is similar to 8-fold higher than simple g-C3N4 and CO2 conversion into CO (32 mu mol.h(-1).g(-1)) and CH4 (4.8 mu mol.h(-1).g(-1)) production, which is 2-fold higher than eCN. However, only CO production (5 mu mol.h(-1).g(-1)) was observed for the simple CN. The enhanced activity of composite material was due to the improved surface-active sites of g-C3N4 through exfoliation, the unique properties of BNF nanosheets, and their combination. The present BNF/eCN composite system showed the highest efficiency compared to earlier reported g-C3N4-based photocatalysts.