Red Phosphorus Grafted High‐Index (116) Faceted Anatase TiO2 for Z‐Scheme Photocatalytic Pure Water Splitting

• Published in: Advanced functional materials 2024-02, Vol.34 (9), p.n/a
• Main Authors: Zhu, Yukun, Ren, Jun, Huang, Guiqing, Dong, Chung‐Li, Huang, Yu‐Cheng, Lu, Ping, Tang, Hua, Liu, Yiming, Shen, Shaohua, Yang, Dongjiang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anatase; Catalytic activity; Charge transfer; Chemical vapor deposition; Conduction bands; Electric fields; Heterostructures; high‐index facet; Hydrogen evolution; Hydrogen production; Light irradiation; Phosphorus; Photocatalysis; Photoelectrons; red phosphorus; Titanium dioxide; titanium oxide; Water splitting; Z‐scheme heterostructures
• ISSN: 1616-301X; 1616-3028
• DOI: 10.1002/adfm.202311623

Red phosphorus (RP) is an emerging visible‐light‐responsive photocatalyst, yet the rapid charge recombination has limited photocatalytic hydrogen production activity. In this work, a Z‐scheme heterostructure with RP nanolayer coated on high‐index (116) faceted anatase TiO2 nanoparticles (TiO2@RP) is designed and fabricated via chemical vapor deposition. Compared with pristine TiO2 and RP, the optimized TiO2@RP Z‐scheme heterostructure exhibits a significantly boosted photocatalytic activity for pure water splitting, with hydrogen evolution rate reaching 12.9 µmol·h−1, under simulated solar light irradiation. The strong interfacial interaction and staggered band alignment between (116) faceted TiO2 and RP result in the formation of built‐in electric field, which can drive the directional charge migration from the conduction band (CB) of TiO2 to the valance band (VB) of RP under light irradiation, with photoelectrons and holes of high redox ability maintained at the CB of RP and the VB of TiO2, respectively. This well‐designed heterostructure greatly promotes photogenerated charge separation and migration via a direct Z‐scheme charge transfer pathway. Red phosphorus (RP) anchored high‐index (116) faceted anatase TiO2 (TiO2@RP) is fabricated via chemical vapor deposition for boosting photocatalytic hydrogen evolution from pure water. The effective charge separation and migration and the well maintained high redox ability of the photogenerated carriers driven by direct Z‐scheme charge transfer route in the TiO2@RP heterostructure are crucial for the excellent photocatalytic activity.