Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C₃N₄) nanosheets are well studied for photocatalytic water splitting using solar light. However, its photocatalytic activity is restrained due to fast recombination of photo-generated electron-hole pairs. Here, we introduce Sn-doped In₂O₃ (ITO) nanocrystals (NCs) as co-catalysts with g-C₃N₄ nanosheets, forming g-C₃N₄:ITO (2 wt%) nanocomposites, for photoelectrochemical (PEC) reduction of water to H₂. The co-catalyst has two major impacts: (i) enhances charge transfer from g-C₃N₄ to ITO NCs suppressing the recombination of photoexcited electron-hole pair, and (ii) reduces charge transfer resistance at electrode/electrolyte interface. Both these aspects improve PEC activity of the nanocomposites. Our g-C₃N₄:ITO nanocomposites photoelectrode shows a photocurrent density of -70 μA/cm² for reduction of water to H₂, whereas the pristine g-C₃N₄ nanosheet photoelectrode shows -12 μA/cm² photocurrent density at 0.11 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE). This (∼6 times) enhancement in photocurrent density by ITO NCs co-catalyst is reasonably high compared to other co-catalysts for g-C₃N₄ reported in prior literature.

石墨化的氮化碳（gC ₃ N ₄）纳米片已被广泛研究用于利用太阳光进行光催化水分解。然而，由于光生电子-空穴对的快速复合，其光催化活性受到限制。在这里，我们引入掺锡的In ₂ O ₃（ITO）纳米晶体（NCs）作为与gC ₃ N ₄纳米片的助催化剂，形成gC ₃ N ₄：ITO（2 wt％）纳米复合材料，用于光电化学（PEC）还原加水至H ₂。助催化剂有两个主要影响：（i）增强gC ₃ N _4的电荷转移ITO NCs抑制了光激发电子-空穴对的重组，并且（ii）降低了电极/电解质界面的电荷转移电阻。这两个方面都改善了纳米复合材料的PEC活性。我们的GC ₃ Ñ ₄：ITO纳米复合材料光电极节目-70μA/ cm的光电流密度²减少的水与H ₂，而原始GC ₃ Ñ ₄纳米片光电极节目-12μA/厘米²的光电流密度在0.11 V与可逆氢电极（RHE）。与gC ₃ N _4的其他助催化剂相比，ITO NCs助催化剂在光电流密度方面的这种提高（约6倍）相当高 在先前的文献中有报道。