Precursor-reforming strategy induced g-CN microtubes with spatial anisotropic charge separation established by conquering hydrogen bond for enhanced photocatalytic H-production performance.

Precursor-reforming strategy induced graphitic carbon nitride (g-CN) with different morphologies for enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen (H) evolution activity is highly desirable. Herein, g-CN microtubes (mg-CN) with adjustable closure degree of microtube orifice and spatial anisotropic charge separation are established by conquering hydrogen bond during thermally exfoliate precursor. Compared to the bulk g-CN (bg-CN) and ultrathin g-CN (ug-CN), the tubular structure endows mg-CN with spatial anisotropic charge separation that accelerates transfer of charge carriers. As expected, the photocatalytic H evolution (PHE) activity of mg-CN has been obviously enhanced. Particularly, the mg-CN-24 shows the best PHE activity (957.9 μmol h g), which is over 18.72 and 3.77 times higher than the bg-CN and ug-CN, respectively. In addition, selective photo-deposition experiment results reveal a charge carriers migration behavior that photoproduction electrons migrate to the outer shell and holes prefer to move onto the inner shell of mg-CN, thus achieving efficient spatial anisotropic charge separation. We firmly believe that the work presents significant advancement for the design of other materials by precursor-reforming strategy.