In Situ Growth of Co2P Nanocrystal on g‑C3N4 for Efficient and Stable Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution

• Published in: Energy & fuels 2021-01, Vol.35 (2), p.1859-1865
• Main Authors: Zhang, Junchang, Su, Feijing, Wen, Peng, Wang, Yawen, Zhao, Bo, Jiang, Lin, Sun, Yinghui
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Non-Carbon-Based Fuels
• ISSN: 0887-0624; 1520-5029
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.energyfuels.0c03637

Recently, Co2P has been deemed to be a low-cost and fruitful activator for promoting photocatalytic hydrogen (H2) production activity for graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4). Nevertheless, almost all reported synthesis methods undergo complex processes and the emission of highly toxic phosphorus gas (PH3). Herein, we present a plain and green method to prepare Co2P/g-C3N4 composite through in-situ synthesizing Co2P nanocrystal on g-C3N4 nanosheet under coheating treatment. The Co2P/g-C3N4 composite is demonstrated to show chemical bonding between Co2P and g-C3N4 nanosheet. Interestingly, Co2P/g-C3N4 presents 6.3 times enhanced photocatalytic H2 yield of 4752 μmol/g/h than that for an individual g-C3N4 nanosheet, resulting from an improvement in generating and separating electron and hole pairs by the chemical bonding between Co2P and g-C3N4 nanosheet. Notably, the performance exceeds a majority of nonmetal cocatalyst decorated g-C3N4 nanosheets. More importantly, this composite photocatalyst shows an excellent cycle stability with only 0.4% decrease in hydrogen evolution rate after four cycles. This article delivers a plain means to synthesize Co2P/g-C3N4 composite photocatalyst, easily expanding to other transition metal phosphides.