To address the critical energy and environmental issues, photocatalytic total water splitting has attracted considerable attention as a potential method for large-scale hydrogen production solely from solar energy and water. In the search for cost-effective and widely available photocatalysts, carbon-based materials made from abundant elements with suitable band gaps have emerged as promising alternatives to their commonly used metal-based counterparts. Despite their potential, the photocatalytic efficiency of carbon nitrides in complete water splitting is limited by their ineffective charge separation and their dependence on a noble metal co-catalyst. To address the above challenges, the collaborative project involving Paderborn University (Germany), Newcastle University (Australia) and Hebei University of Science and Technology (China) proposes the following.

(1) Development of two sets of carbon nitride-based semiconductors by tuning the electronic structures;

(2) Build a library of electrostatically assembled photocatalysts with direct Z-scheme for optimal overall water splitting.