Photocatalysis is regarded as one of promising technology for future clean and sustaniable energy applications. Herein, we have fabricated Au-modified reduced graphene oxide coupled with carbon nitride (Au/rGO/g-C₃N₄) as novel 0D/2D/2D photocatalytic nanocomposites. The optimized sample 2Au/0.6rGO/g-C₃N₄ exhibits exceptional visible-light activity for water splititng and CO₂ reduction with quantum efficiency of 3.82 % and 1.98 %, respectively. Electrochemistry and ultraviolent photoemission are combined to determine the band alignments and elaborate associated water splitting path-way mechanism. It is validated that due to intrinsic deep valence band position of g-C₃N₄, the obtained nanocomposites exhibit unusual two-step two-electron way of water oxidization through intermediate H₂O₂ catalyzed by rGO addition. The exceptional photoactivities are attributed to dual functions of enhanced charge separation and two-electron water oxidization facilitated by rGO and surface plasmon effect of decorated Au. Our work provides illuminations for low cost and high efficiency photocatalytic water splitting and CO₂ reduction applications.

光催化被认为是未来清洁和可持续能源应用的有前途的技术之一。在这里，我们已经制备了Au改性的还原氧化石墨烯与氮化碳（Au / rGO / gC ₃ N ₄）耦合作为新型0D / 2D / 2D光催化纳米复合材料。优化后的样品2Au / 0.6rGO / gC ₃ N ₄具有优异的可见光活性，可用于水分解和CO ₂还原，量子效率分别为3.82％和1.98％。电化学和紫外光发射结合在一起，确定能带排列并详细说明相关的水分解途径机制。证实由于gC ₃ N _4的固有深价带位置，得到的纳米复合材料通过rGO添加催化的中间体H ₂ O ₂表现出不同寻常的两步两电子氧化水的方式。出色的光活性归因于rGO和修饰金的表面等离激元效应促进的电荷分离和双电子水氧化双重功能。我们的工作为低成本，高效率的光催化水分解和CO ₂还原应用提供照明。