Semiconductor photocatalysis is regarded as an ideal method for use in solving the energy shortage and environmental issues by converting solar energy to chemical energy. Herein, we have designed a facile synthetic methodology to obtain a ternary co-modified g-C3 N4 composite via WS2 and carbon-doped TiO2 (C-TiO2 ) nanorods with highly efficient photocatalytic activity for hydrogen production from deionized (DI) water and a natural seawater system under visible-light illumination. This composite exhibits enhanced photocatalytic activity compared to the pristine g-C3 N4 , WS2 , C-TiO2 nanorods, and the reference-modified g-C3 N4 composite with individual WS2 or C-TiO2 nanorods. Co-modified g-C3 N4 composite shows a great photostability in both DI water and seawater. Under λ=420 nm monochromatic light illumination, the apparent quantum efficiency of the co-modified g-C3 N4 composite in seawater solution is 13.08 %, which is higher than pure g-C3 N4 (5.06 %). WS2 , TiO2 , and g-C3 N4 constitute a ternary heterojunction boosting the fast separation of photoinduced electron-hole pairs, which plays a crucial role in enhancing photocatalytic activity. Therefore, the WS2 and C-TiO2 nanorod co-modified g-C3 N4 composite with high photocatalytic performance provides a promising candidate for rationally utilizing the seawater resource to produce clean chemical energy.
Keywords: charge separators; g-C3N4 composite; hydrogen; photocatalysis; seawater splitting.
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