An experimental study on the Co-CN/BiPO composite for efficient photocatalytic water splitting

• Published in: New journal of chemistry 2020-06, Vol.44 (25), p.1739-1746
• Main Authors: Liu, Xuecheng, Yan, Linjie, He, Linxin, Yao, Zurun, You, Linfeng, Liu, Lin, Zhou, Guilin, Huang, Hongyu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1144-0546; 1369-9261
• DOI: 10.1039/d0nj01329c

The Co-C 3 N 4 /BiPO 4 photocatalyst is facilely synthesized for application in photocatalytic water splitting. The physical and chemical properties of Co-C 3 N 4 /BiPO 4 are studied by a wide range of characterization methods. The Co-CN/BP photocatalyst shows good photocatalytic activity for H 2 evolution by water splitting without using a noble metal. The Co-C 3 N 4 /BiPO 4 composite with 5 wt% Co-C 3 N 4 loading exhibits a superior photocatalytic H 2 evolution rate of 23.9 μmol h −1 g −1 . The remarkable enhancement of the photocatalytic H 2 evolution activity of Co-C 3 N 4 /BiPO 4 composites is mainly ascribed to the effective charge transfer and separation of the electron-hole pairs by the lattice-matched heterojunction structure. This work extends opportunities for the design of non-noble metal photocatalysts with efficient photocatalytic water splitting. The photocatalytic water-splitting activity is enhanced by the Co-C 3 N 4 /BiPO 4 photocatalyst without the use of a noble metal.