Toward Doping in Graphitic Carbon Nitride: Progress and Perspectives on Catalytic Hydrogen Production

Abstract

The expanding urbanization, population growth, and climate emergency have stimulated the development of sustainable energy technologies for a greener future. Hydrogen energy is viewed as a key solution to meet the ever-increasing energy demand. The evolution of electrocatalysts for hydrogen production plays a crucial role in this context. Sustainable and low-cost materials with excellent catalytic performance are highly preferred for both photocatalytic and electrocatalytic hydrogen production. Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) is a versatile layered two-dimensional material used in the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). However, a comprehensive review investigating the effects of doping on both photocatalytic and electrocatalytic HER is lacking in the literature. This gap motivates the writing of a detailed review on g-C3N4-based catalysts for sustainable hydrogen production through both photocatalysis and electrocatalysis. This review encompasses the key features of g-C3N4-based electrocatalysts, the doping of g-C3N4, their HER activities, and performance evaluations. It is concluded that doping is an effective approach to enhance the catalytic performance of g-C3N4-based catalysts for sustainable hydrogen production.