Unique Tubular BiOBr/g‐C3N4 Heterojunction with Efficient Separation of Charge Carriers for Photocatalytic Nitrogen Fixation

Abstract

AbstractThe industrial ammonia synthesis process consumes a lot of energy and causes serious environmental pollution. As a sustainable approach for ammonia synthesis, photocatalytic nitrogen reduction employing water as the reducing agent has a lot of potential. A simple surfactant‐assisted solvothermal method is used to synthesize g‐C3N4 nanotubes with flower‐like spherical BiOBr grown inside and outside (BiOBr/g‐C3N4, BC). The hollow tubular structure realizes the full use of visible light by the multi‐scattering effect of light. Large surface areas and more active sites for N2 adsorption and activation are present in the distinctive spatially dispersed hierarchical structures. Particularly, the quick separation and transfer of electrons and holes are facilitated by the sandwich tubular heterojunctions and tight contact interface of BiOBr and g‐C3N4. The maximal NH3 generation rate of the BiOBr/g‐C3N4 composite catalysts can reach 255.04 μmol⋅ g−1⋅ h−1, and it is 13.9 and 5.8 times that of pure BiOBr and g‐C3N4. This work provides a novel method for designing and constructing unique heterojunctions for efficient photocatalytic nitrogen fixation.