Interfacial-Bonding Ti–N–C Boosts Efficient Photocatalytic H₂ Evolution in Close Coupling g-C₃N₄/TiO₂

To obtain efficient photocatalytic activity on a hybrid composite, facile transfer of photogenerated carriers at the hybrid interface and their rapid reaction with redox species on different components of a photocatalyst play two significant roles. Here, titanium hydroxide as a precursor instead of synthesized TiO 2 was mixed with g-C 3 N 4 first, and then, the TiO 2 /g-C 3 N 4 composite with a strongly coupling (Ti) 2 –N–C bond at the interface was synthesized by a simple hydrothermal method to efficiently realize both roles. According to the transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and nuclear magnetic resonance results, the closely coupled TiO 2 /g-C 3 N 4 composite not only improves the separation and transfer of the photogenerated carriers at the hybrid interface of the composites but also constrains abundant H 2 O at the interface of the TiO 2 /g-C 3 N 4 catalyst to accelerate the H 2 O reaction with photogenerated carriers on g-C 3 N 4 . All of these lead to the highly efficient photocatalytic activity for H 2 evolution on the TiO 2 /g-C 3 N 4 composite by factors of 9.0 and 4.7 compared to that on pure g-C 3 N 4 under solar light and visible light, respectively.