The surface modification technique based on BIT physisorption and K⁺ doping results in an extremely high hydrogen production efficiency of carbon nitride, up to 21.35 mmol g⁻¹ h⁻¹.

Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C₃N₄) with a porous nano-structure, nitrogen vacancies, and oxygen-doping was prepared by the calcination method. Then, it was combined with ZnIn₂S₄ nanosheets containing zinc vacancies to construct a three-dimensional (3D) flower-like Z-scheme heterojunction (pCN-N/ZIS-Z), which was used for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution and the degradation of mixed pollutants. The constructed Z-scheme heterojunction improved the efficiency of photogenerated charges separation and migration, and the large surface area and porous characteristics provided more active sites. Doping and defect engineering can change the bandgap structure to improve the utilization of visible light, and can also capture photogenerated electrons to inhibit recombination, so as to promote the use of photogenerated electron-hole pairs in the photocatalytic redox process. Heterojunction and defect engineering synergized to form a continuous and efficient conductive operation framework, which achieves the hydrogen production of pCN-N/ZIS-Z (9189.8 µmol·h⁻¹·g⁻¹) at 58.9 times that of g-C₃N₄ (155.9 µmol·h⁻¹·g⁻¹), and the degradation rates of methyl orange and metronidazole in the mixed solution were 98.7% and 92.5%, respectively. Our research provides potential ideas for constructing a green and environmentally friendly Z-scheme heterojunction catalyst based on defect engineering to address the energy crisis and environmental restoration.