Synergy of nitrogen vacancies and nanodiamond decoration in g-C3N4 for boosting CO2 photoreduction

Photoconversion of CO 2 into fuel is critical for realizing a net-zero emission future, but it remains an open challenge due to the unsatisfactory light absorption and photogenerated carriers’ separation efficiency of catalysts. In this work, upon in situ thermal polymerization method, the nanodiamond (ND) are homogeneously and solidly modified on the defective graphitic carbon nitride (g-C 3 N 4 ) surface. Under visible light irradiation, the ND/g-C 3 N 4 (NH) exhibits excellent CO 2 photocatalytic performance with a CO yield of 10.98 μmol/h (18.6 times higher than bulk g-C 3 N 4 ), predominant performance in the selectivity of CO and cyclic stability. The improved CO 2 photoreduction ability was sourced from the synergetic effect of nitrogen vacancies engineering and ND decoration, which also significantly improved visible light absorption capacity and facilitated electron transport pathways, and promoted the separation and transfer of charge carriers efficiently.