Enhanced Charge Transfer Process of Bismuth Vanadate Interleaved Graphitic Carbon Nitride Nanohybrids in Mediator‐Free Direct Z Scheme Photoelectrocatalytic Water Splitting.

In the present work, graphitic carbon nitride‐bismuth vanadate (g‐C3N4‐BiVO4) nanohybrid materials with different wt. % of g‐C3N4 were successfully synthesized by a simple hydrothermal method and characterized by UV‐Visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), photoluminescence spectroscopy (PLS), X‐ray diffraction (XRD), X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier‐transform infrared spectroscopy (FT‐IR), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE‐SEM), energy dispersive X‐ray (EDAX) absorption spectroscopy, high‐resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR‐TEM) and selected area electron diffraction (SAED) analysis. The photoelectrocatalytic performance of g‐C3N4‐BiVO4 nanohybrid materials were investigated by water splitting under AM 1.5G (100 mWcm−2) illumination. The g‐C3N4‐BiVO4 photoanode with 10 wt. % of g‐C3N4 exhibited higher photoelectrocatalytic activity towards water splitting, which was 1.6 and 2.8‐folds higher than that of the pure BiVO4 and g‐C3N4, respectively. The remarkably enhanced photoelectrocatalytic activity of the nanohybrid is due to the efficient photogenerated electron‐hole separation through Z‐scheme mechanism, enhanced interfacial charge transfer process and suppression in the charge recombination rate. Hence, the g‐C3N4‐BiVO4 nanohybrid materials can be potential candidates for light harvesting applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]