Constructing Zn-P charge transfer bridge over ZnFe2O4-black phosphorus 3D microcavity structure: Efficient photocatalyst design in visible-near-infrared region.

Abstract

Black phosphorus (BP) is one of the most promising visible-near-infrared light-driven photocatalysts with favorite photoelectric properties and unique tunable direct band gap. Nevertheless, the further development of BP is hindered by the fast carrier recombination rate and high Gibbs free energy. Herein, an innovative strategy is developed for the controllable construction of Zn-P bonds induced zinc ferrite/black phosphorus (ZnFe2O4-BP) three dimensions (3D) microcavity structure. The Zn-P bonds serve as an efficient channel to optimize the carrier transport and Gibbs free energy of BP simultaneously. Besides, the unique 3D core-shell microcavity structure maintains the multiple reflections of sunlight inside the catalysts, which greatly improves the sunlight utilization upon photocatalysis. An optimized photocatalytic hydrogen production rate of 560\xa0µmol\xa0h-1g-1 under near-infrared light (>820\xa0nm) is achieved. A possible photocatalytic mechanism is proposed based on a series of experimental characterizations and theoretical calculations, this work provides a new sight to design high-quantity BP-based full-spectrum photocatalysts for solar energy conversion.