Influence of low level of non-metal doping on g-C3N4 performance for H2 production from water under solar light irradiation

In this paper, a facile one step synthesis method for the preparation of C-, B-, P- and S-doped g-C3N4 by incorporation of small concentration of doping element precursor into urea during thermal polycondensation is reported leading to much lower doping levels than the ones usually reported. The as-obtained doped g-C3N4 photocatalytic materials are deeply characterized in terms of structural, morphological, surface and optical properties. Doping yields beneficial surface morphology modulation along with improved optical, electronic and photocatalytic properties. In particular, C-doped and S-doped g-C3N4 show, after deposition of gold nanoparticles (