Z-scheme LaCoO3/C3N5 for efficient full-spectrum light-simulated solar photocatalytic hydrogen generation

The development of photocatalysts with high activity and low cost is still a major challenge. Since its synthesis in 2019, C3N5 has become an emerging photocatalytic material and has been widely studied. In this work, we report on the preparation of LaCoO3/C3N5 nanosheets and the use of LaCoO3 instead of precious metals to improve photocatalytic hydrogen production activity. First, LaCoO3 was successfully prepared by the sol-gel method and then a series of high-efficiency Z-type LaCoO3/C3N5 heterojunction photocatalysts were synthesized by the solvothermal method. Various characterization techniques (XRD, FT-IR, SEM, TEM, EDS, XPS, UV-Vis DRS, BET, ESR) confirmed the formation between LaCoO3 nanoparticles and C3N5 nanosheet heterostructures and interface interactions. In the photocatalytic water split test, 50 wt% LaCoO3/C3N5 showed the highest photocatalytic activity of 956.11 mu mol h(-1) g(-1), which was 3.21 and 1.59 times that of LaCoO3 and C3N5, respectively. This work not only designs an inexpensive and efficient LaCoO3/C3N5 photocatalytic system for water splitting or other photocatalytic applications, but also provides ideas for constructing new material photocatalytic systems.