The technology of photocatalytic hydrogen production that converts abundant yet intermittent solar energy into an environmentally friendly alternative energy source is an attractive strategy to mitigate the energy crisis and environmental pollution. Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C₃N₄), as a promising photocatalyst, has gradually received focus in the field of artificial photosynthesis due to its appealing optical property, high chemical stability and easy synthesis. However, the limited light absorption and massive recombination of photoinduced carriers have hindered the photocatalytic activity of bare g-C₃N₄. Therefore, from the perspective of theoretical calculations and experiments, many valid approaches have been applied to rationally design the photocatalyst and ameliorate the hydrogen production performance, such as element doping, defect engineering, morphology tuning, and semiconductor coupling. This review summarized the latest progress of g-C₃N₄-based photocatalysts from two perspectives, modification of pristine g-C₃N₄ and interfacial engineering design. It is expected to offer feasible suggestions for the fabrication of low-cost and high-efficiency photocatalysts and the photocatalytic mechanism analyses assisted by calculation in the near future. Finally, the prospects and challenges of this exciting research field are discussed.

光催化制氢技术将丰富但间歇性的太阳能转化为环境友好的替代能源，是缓解能源危机和环境污染的有吸引力的策略。石墨氮化碳（gC ₃ N ₄）作为一种很有前途的光催化剂，由于其具有吸引人的光学性质、高化学稳定性和易合成等优点，逐渐受到人工光合作用领域的关注。然而，有限的光吸收和光致载流子的大量复合阻碍了裸gC ₃ N ₄的光催化活性。. 因此，从理论计算和实验的角度来看，已经应用了许多有效的方法来合理设计光催化剂并改善产氢性能，例如元素掺杂、缺陷工程、形态调整和半导体耦合。本综述从两个角度总结了gC ₃ N ₄基光催化剂的最新进展，原始gC ₃ N _{4 的}改性和界面工程设计。有望在不久的将来为低成本、高效光催化剂的制备和光催化机理分析提供可行的建议。最后，讨论了这个令人兴奋的研究领域的前景和挑战。