Nanoporous sulfur-doped graphitic carbon nitride microrods: A durable catalyst for visible-light-driven H2 evolution

•Nanoporous sulfur-doped graphitic carbon nitride microrods are prepared.•This material is a highly active catalyst for H2 evolution under visible light.•This material exhibits high catalytic stability.

Nanoporous sulfur-doped graphitic carbon nitride microrods are prepared by direct thermal condensation of a high-quality melamine-trithiocyanuric acid supramolecular cocrystal under N2 atmosphere. The as-obtained carbon nitride material serves as a highly active photocatalyst for H2 evolution under visible-light irradiation, affording an activity about 9.3 times higher than that of the reference carbon nitride material that is prepared using melamine as the precursor. In addition, this material also exhibits satisfactory stability because there is no loss of catalytic activity after the catalytic H2 evolution for 60 h. The simultaneous achievement of the porosity, sulfur-doping and 1D morphology in the carbon nitride material as well as its superior photocatalytic activity, in turn, highlights the importance of the synthetic strategy reported herein.

Graphical abstractNanoporous sulfur-doped graphitic carbon nitride microrods with high catalytic activity are prepared by direct thermal condensation of a melamine-trithiocyanuric acid supramolecular cocrystal.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide