Orderly designed functional phosphide nanoparticles modified g-C3N4 for efficient photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

Abstract

AbstractThe synthesis of highly efficient and stable photocatalysts has always been one of the key research objects in the field of photocatalysis. Increasing the efficiency of charge separation is an important aspect of improving photocatalytic activity. In this work, the Co-W-P cocatalysts were loaded on g-C3N4, synthesized for the first time and the electron transport routes were appropriately adjusted, which extremely improved efficiency of photocatalytic decomposition of water for hydrogen evolution. A composite photocatalyst with high-efficiency photocatalytic H2 production performance under visible light was obtained by loading the Co-W-P composites on a g-C3N4 nanosheet. It was ascribed to the efficient interfacial electron transfer routes. This has contributed to the synthesis of high-priority and stable photocatalysts. Besides, the composite catalysts were characterized by SEM, TEM, XRD, XPS, UV-vis, BET, transient photocurrent, and FT-IR etc. And a mechanism of photocatalytic hydrogen production was hypothesized.\n The electron transport routes are successfully adjusted and the hydrogen evolution is greatly improved. It can be attributed to the more active sites for the catalyst and accelerating electron transport over Co-W-P complex on loaded g-C3N4.HighlightsThe electron transport routes successfully adjusted by means of phosphide nanoparticles orderly designed on g-C3N4.More than 115.32 times higher H2 evolution obtained over phosphide nanoparticles modified g-C3N4 photocatalyst.Detailed photocatalytic mechanism for hydrogen production is proposed.