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Mesoporous silicon carbide nanofibers with in situ embedded carbon for co-catalyst free photocatalytic hydrogen production

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Abstract

Silicon carbide (SiC) has been considered a promising metal-free photocatalyst due to its unique photoelectrical properties and thermal/chemical stability. However, its performance suffers from the fast recombination of charge carriers. Herein, we report mesoporous SiC nanofibers with in situ embedded graphitic carbon (SiC NFs-Cx) synthesized via a one-step carbothermal reduction between electrospun carbon nanofibers and Si powders. In the absence of a noble metal co-catalyst, the hydrogen evolution efficiency of SiC NFs-Cx is significantly improved under both simulated solar light (180.2 μmol·g–1·h–1) and visible light irradiation (31.0 μmol·g–1·h–1) in high-pH solution. The efficient simultaneous separation of charge carriers plays a critical role in the high photocatalytic activity. The embedded carbon can swiftly transfer the photogenerated electrons and improve light absorption, whereas the additional hydroxyl anions (OH–) in highpH solution can accelerate the trapping of holes. Our results demonstrate that the production of SiC NFs-Cx, which contains exclusively earth-abundant elements, scaled up, and is environmentally friendly, has great potential for practical applications. This work may provide a new pathway for designing stable, lowcost, high efficiency, and co-catalyst-free photocatalysts.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Science and Technology on Advanced Ceramic Fiber and Composites Laboratory, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha, 410073, China

    Bing Wang, Yingde Wang, Nan Wu, Yanzi Gou, Cheng Han & Song Xie

  2. College of Basic Education, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha, 410073, China

    Yongpeng Lei

  3. College of Materials Science and Engineering, Wuhan Textile University, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Dong Fang

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  1. Bing Wang
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Correspondence to Yingde Wang or Yongpeng Lei.

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Wang, B., Wang, Y., Lei, Y. et al. Mesoporous silicon carbide nanofibers with in situ embedded carbon for co-catalyst free photocatalytic hydrogen production. Nano Res. 9, 886–898 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-015-0971-z

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