Issue 19, 2024

Ultrafast hydrogen production in boron/oxygen-codoped graphitic carbon nitride revealed by nonadiabatic dynamics simulations

Abstract

Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4 or GCN) shows promise in photocatalytic water splitting, despite facing the challenge of rapid electron–hole recombination. In this study, we investigated the influence of boron/oxygen codoping on the photocatalytic performance of GCN systems for hydrogen generation. First-principles calculations and nonadiabatic molecular dynamics (NAMD) simulations were employed to reveal that the recombination time of photogenerated carriers could be increased by 16% to 64% in the codoped systems compared to the pristine GCN. The time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) scheme was utilized to select energy windows and initiate dynamics in cluster models of B/O co-doped heptazine with water molecules. Notably, we observed efficient direct photodissociation of hydrogen atoms from water molecules within 60 fs and proton hops within the hydrogen-bonded network within 80 fs in the co-doped system, diverging from the previously proposed mechanism for pristine heptazine in NAMD simulations. This discovery underscores the significant role of faster proton-coupled electron transfer (PCET) reactions and rapid radiationless relaxation in achieving high photocatalytic efficiency in water splitting. Our work enhances the understanding of the internal mechanism of highly efficient photocatalysts for water splitting and provides a new design strategy for doped GCN.

Graphical abstract: Ultrafast hydrogen production in boron/oxygen-codoped graphitic carbon nitride revealed by nonadiabatic dynamics simulations

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
12 Mar 2024
Accepted
16 Apr 2024
First published
01 May 2024

Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2024,26, 14205-14215

Ultrafast hydrogen production in boron/oxygen-codoped graphitic carbon nitride revealed by nonadiabatic dynamics simulations

H. Yang, R. Wu, W. Li and J. Wen, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2024, 26, 14205 DOI: 10.1039/D4CP01085J

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements