In this paper, we report the synthesis of ligand-free Au nanoclusters (NCs)/g-C3N4 ultra-thin nanosheets (NSs) composite via a facile wet-impregnation method with post-annealing. On the one hand, post-annealing was used for the exfoliation of multi-layered g-C3N4 to obtain ultra-thin NSs; on the other hand, after Au25(Cys)18 NCs were loaded, post-annealing was further adopted to remove the ligands to obtain clean surface on Au NCs. It is demonstrated that the loaded Au NCs were aggregating resistant by post-annealing. Constructing heterojunctions with appropriate inter-band structures between the ligand-free Au NCs and the ultra-thin g-C3N4 NSs, along with the mono-distribution of the Au NCs and their intimate contact with g-C3N4 NSs ensured the smooth interfacial charge transfer. As a result, the composite photocatalysts exhibited efficient visible-light-induced photocatalytic H2 generation, mainly due to the local electric field enhancement induced by excitation of Au NCs under visible light and the improved charge separation in g-C3N4. This work provides a general strategy for the synthesis of noble metal NCs based composites with clean surface as the efficient photocatalysts for solar energy conversion.
Graphical Abstract
A stepwise post-annealing strategy is exploited to prepare g-C3N4 ultra-thin nanosheets modified with highly dispersed ligand-free Au nanoclusters for efficient photocatalytic hydrogen production.
Improving the capacitance of carbon materials for supercapacitors without sacrificing their rate performance, especially volumetric capacitance at high mass loadings, is a big challenge because of the limited assessable surface area and sluggish electrochemical kinetics of the pseudocapacitive reactions. Here, it is demonstrated that “self‐doping” defects in carbon materials can contribute to additional capacitance with an electrical double‐layer behavior, thus promoting a significant increase in the specific capacitance. As an exemplification, a novel defect‐enriched graphene block with a low specific surface area of 29.7 m2 g?1 and high packing density of 0.917 g cm?3 performs high gravimetric, volumetric, and areal capacitances of 235 F g?1, 215 F cm?3, and 3.95 F cm?2 (mass loading of 22 mg cm?2) at 1 A g?1, respectively, as well as outstanding rate performance. The resulting specific areal capacitance reaches an ultrahigh value of 7.91 F m?2 including a “self‐doping” defect contribution of 4.81 F m?2, which is dramatically higher than the theoretical capacitance of graphene (0.21 F m?2) and most of the reported carbon‐based materials. Therefore, the defect engineering route broadens the avenue to further improve the capacitive performance of carbon materials, especially for compact energy storage under limited surface areas. 相似文献