TiO₂ Nanowires with Doped g-C₃N₄ Nanoparticles for Enhanced H₂ Production and Photodegradation of Pollutants

With the rapid consumption of fossil fuels, along with the ever-increasing environmental pollution, it is becoming a top priority to explore efficient photocatalysts for the production of renewable hydrogen and degradation of pollutants. Here, we fabricated a composite of g-C₃N₄/TiO₂ via an in situ growth method under the conditions of high-temperature calcination. In this method, TiO₂ nanowires with a large specific surface area could provide enough space for loading more g-C₃N₄ nanoparticles to obtain C₃N₄/TiO₂ composites. Of note, the g-C₃N₄/TiO₂ composite could effectively photocatalyze both the degradation of several pollutants and production of hydrogen, both of which are essential for environmental governance. Combining multiple characterizations and experiments, we found that the heterojunction constructed by the TiO₂ and g-C₃N₄ could increase the photocatalytic ability of materials by prompting the separation of photogenerated carriers. Furthermore, the photocatalytic mechanism of the g-C₃N₄/TiO₂ composite was also clarified in detail.