Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

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

  • Original Paper: Sol-gel and hybrid materials for catalytic, photoelectrochemical and sensor applications
  • Published:
Journal of Sol-Gel Science and Technology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The 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.

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.

Highlights

  • The 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.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Harvey BG, Merriman WW, Koontz TA (2015) High-density renewable diesel and jet fuels prepared from multicyclic sesquiterpanes and a 1-hexene-derived synthetic paraffinic kerosene. Energy Fuels 29:150220083739002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Walter MG, Warren EL, Mckone JR et al. (2010) Solar water splitting cells-chemical reviews (ACS Publications). Am Chem Soc 110:6446–6473

    Google Scholar 

  3. Yang H, Jin Z, Hu H et al. (2017) Fabrication and behaviors of CdS on Bi2MoO6 thin film photoanodes. RSC Adv 7:10774–10781

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Bak T, Nowotny J, Rekas M et al. (2002) Photo-electrochemical hydrogen generation from water using solar energy. Materials-related aspects. Int J Hydrogen Energy 27:991–1022

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Fan K, Jin Z, Yang H et al. (2017) Promotion of the excited electron transfer over Ni- and Co -sulfide co-doped g-C3N4 photocatalyst (g-C3N4/NixCo1-xS2) for hydrogen production under visible light irradiation. Sci Rep 7:7710

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Tachibana Y, Vayssieres L, Durrant JR (2012) Artificial photosynthesis for solar water-splitting. Nat Photonics 6:511–518

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Xiang Q, Yu J, Jaroniec M (2012) Graphene-based semiconductor photocatalysts. Chem Soc Rev 41:782–796

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Zhang N, Yang MQ, Liu S et al. (2015) Waltzing with the versatile platform of graphene to synthesize composite photocatalysts. Chem Rev 115:10307–10377

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Jin ZL, Zhang XJ, Lu GX, Li SB (2006) Improvement quantum yield for photocatalytic hydrogen generation under visible light irradiation over eosin sensitized TiO2-investigation of different noble metal loading. J Mol Catalysis A Chem 259:275–280

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Zou W, Deng B, Hu X et al. (2018) Crystal-plane-dependent metal oxide-support interaction in CeO2/g-C3N4 for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. Appl Catalysis B Environ 238:111–118

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Fu JW, Xu QL, Low JX, Jiang CJ, Yu JG (2019) Ultrathin 2D/2D WO3/g-C3N4 step-scheme H2-production photocatalyst. Appl Catalysis B Environ 243:556–565

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Lou Z, Xue C (2016) In situ growth of WO3-x nanowires on g-C3N4 nanosheets: 1D/2D heterostructures with enhanced photocatalytic activity. CrystEngComm 18:8406–8410

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Zhou P, Lai J, Tang Y et al. (2018) Amorphous FeCoPOx nanowires coupled to g-C3N4 nanosheets with enhanced interfacial electronic transfer for boosting photocatalytic hydrogen production. Appl Catalysis B Environ 238:161–167

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Chen K, Zhang XM, Yang XF et al. (2018) Electronic structure of heterojunction MoO2/g-C3N4 catalyst for oxidative desulfurization. Appl Catalysis B Environ 238:263–273

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Jin X, Fan X, Tian J et al. (2016) MoS2 quantum dot decorated g-C3N4 composite photocatalyst with enhanced hydrogen evolution performance. RSC Adv 6:52611–52619

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Hao X, Jin Z, Min S et al. (2016) Modulating photogenerated electron transfer with selectively exposed Co-Mo facets on a novel amorphous g-C3N4/CoxMo1-xS2 photocatalyst. RSC Adv 6:23709–23717

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Jun YS, Lee EZ, Wang X et al. (2013) From melamine-cyanuric acid supramolecular aggregates to carbon nitride hollow spheres. Adv Func Mater 23:3661–3667

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Hong J, Xia X, Wang Y et al. (2012) Mesoporous carbon nitride with in situ sulfur doping for enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen evolution from water under visible light. J Mater Chem 22:15006–15012

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Zhang G, Zhang M, Ye X et al. (2014) Iodine modified carbon nitride semiconductors as visible light photocatalysts for hydrogen evolution. Adv Mater 26:805–809

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Wang Y, Hong J, Zhang W et al. (2013) Carbon nitride nanosheets for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution: remarkably enhanced activity by dye sensitization. Catalysis Sci Technol 3:1703–1711

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Hou Y, Laursen AB, Zhang J et al. (2013) Layered nanojunctions for hydrogen-evolution catalysis. Angewandte Chemie 125:3621–3625

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Han C, Lei G, Chen C et al. (2014) Novel visible light induced Co3O4-g-C3N4, heterojunction photocatalysts for efficient degradation of methyl orange. Appl Catalysis B Environ 147:546–553

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Wang P, Wu T, Wang C et al. (2017) Combining heterojunction engineering with surface cocatalyst modification to synergistically enhance the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution performance of cadmium sulfide nanorods. ACS Sustainable Chem Engineer 5:7670–7677

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Zhang G, Huang C, Wang X (2015) Dispersing molecular cobalt in graphitic carbon nitride frameworks for photocatalytic water oxidation. Small 11:1215–1221

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Yan X, Tian L, He M et al. (2015) Three-dimensional crystalline/amorphous Co/Co3O4 core/shell nanosheets as efficient electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction. Nano Lett 15:6015–6021

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Xiaojing W, Xiao T, Yingjie S et al. (2018) Enhanced Schottky effect of a 2D-2D CoPg-C3N4 interface for boosting photocatalytic H2 evolution. Nanoscale 10:12315–12321

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Chao K, Min S, Lu G (2014) Dye-sensitized cobalt catalysts for high efficient visible light hydrogen evolution. Int J Hydrogen Energy 39:4836–4844

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Wang H, Jin Z (2018) Design and synthesis of polymeric carbon nitride@zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (CoWS) semiconductor junction nanowires for efficient photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. New J Chem. https://doi.org/10.1039/C8NJ03754J.

  29. Wang H, Wang G, Liu Z et al. (2018) Strategy of nitrogen defects sponge from g-C3N4, nanosheets and Ni-Bi-Se complex modification for efficient dye-sensitized photocatalytic H2 evolution. Mol Catalysis 453:1–11

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Ge L, Zuo F, Liu J et al. (2012) Synthesis and efficient visible light photocatalytic hydrogen evolution of polymeric g-C3N4 coupled with CdS quantum dots. J Phys Chem C 116:13708–13714

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Ha DH, Moreau LM, Bealing CR et al. (2011) The structural evolution and diffusion during the chemical transformation from cobalt to cobalt phosphide nanoparticles. J Mater Chem 21:11498–11510

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Cao S, Chen Y, Hou CC et al. (2015) Cobalt phosphide as a highly active non-precious metal cocatalyst for photocatalytic hydrogen production under visible light irradiation. J Mater Chem A 3:6096–6101

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Nayak S, Mohapatra L, Parida K (2015) Supporting information visible light driven novel g-C3N4/NiFe-LDH composites photocatalyst with enhanced photocatalytic activity towards water oxidation and reduction reaction. J Mater Chem A 3:18622–18635

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Ge L, Han C, Xiao X et al. (2013) In situ synthesis of cobalt-phosphate (Co-Pi) modified g-C3N4, photocatalysts with enhanced photocatalytic activities. Appl Catalysis B Environ 142-143:414–422.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Sun XJ, Yang DD, Dong H et al. (2018) ZIF-derived CoP as a cocatalyst for enhanced photocatalytic H2 production activity of g-C3N4. Sustainable Energy Fuels 2:1356–1361

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Zhang J, Yao W, Huang C et al. (2017) High efficiency and stable tungsten phosphide cocatalysts for photocatalytic hydrogen production. J Mater Chem A 5:12513–12519

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Xing Z, Liu Q, Asiri AM et al. (2015) High-efficiency electrochemical hydrogen evolution catalyzed by tungsten phosphide submicroparticles. ACS Catalysis 5:145–149

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Wang D, Lv K, Wu Z (2018) Facile synthesis of tungsten phosphide/Ketjen black hybrid electrocatalyst for hydrogen production. Mater Res Exp 6:065509

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Li X, Tian S, Wang A et al. (2017) XPS study of a bulk WP hydrodesulfurization catalyst. J Catalysis 352:557–561

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Ran RJ, Ma TY, Gao G et al. (2015) Porous P-doped graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets for synergistically enhanced visible-light photocatalytic H2 production. Energy Environ Sci 8:3708–3717

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Zeng D, Wu P, Ong WJ et al. (2018) Construction of network-like and flower-like 2H-MoSe2, nanostructures coupled with porous g-C3N4, for noble-metal-free photocatalytic H2, evolution under visible light. Appl Catalysis B Environ 233:26–34

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Meng A, Zhang J, Xu D et al. (2016) Enhanced photocatalytic H2-production activity of anatase TiO2, nanosheet by selectively depositing dual-cocatalysts on {101} and {001} facets. Appl Catalysis B Environ 198:286–294

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. Yang H, Jin Z, Hu H et al. (2018) Ni-Mo-S nanoparticles modified graphitic C3N4, for efficient hydrogen evolution. Appl Surf Sci 427:587–597

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Pan Z, Zheng Y, Guo F et al. (2016) Decorating CoP and Pt nanoparticles on graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets to promote overall water splitting by conjugated polymers. ChemSusChem 10:87–90

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. Yu H, Shi R, Zhao Y et al. (2017) Alkali-assisted synthesis of nitrogen deficient graphitic carbon nitride with tunable band structures for efficient visible-light-driven hydrogen evolution. Adv Mater 29:1605148

    Article  Google Scholar 

  46. Zhao H, Jiang PP, Cai W (2017) Graphitic C3N4 decorated with CoP co-catalyst: enhanced and stable photocatalytic H2 evolution activity from water under visible-light irradiation. Chemistry 12:361

    Google Scholar 

  47. Wang ZJ, Jin ZL, Yuan H et al. (2018) Orderly-designed Ni2P nanoparticles on g-C3N4 and UiO-66 for efficient solar water splitting. J Colloid Interface Sci 532:287–299

    Article  Google Scholar 

  48. Hao X, Zhou J, Cui Z et al. (2018) Zn-vacancy mediated electron-hole separation in ZnS/g-C3N4, heterojunction for efficient visible-light photocatalytic hydrogen production. Appl Catalysis B Environ 229:41–51

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the Chinese National Natural Science Foundation (41663012 and 21862002), the project of State Key Laboratory of High-efficiency Utilization of Coal and Green Chemical Engineering, Ningxia University, the new technology and system for clean energy catalytic production, major scientific project of North Minzu University (ZDZX201803), the Laboratory for the development and application of electrochemical energy conversion technology, North Minzu University and the Ningxia low-grade resource high value utilization and environmental chemical integration technology innovation team project of North Minzu University.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, North Minzu University, 750021, Yinchuan, China

    Qiyan Jian, Zhiliang Jin, Haiyu Wang, Guorong Wang & Yongke Zhang

  2. Ningxia Key Laboratory of Solar Chemical Conversion Technology, North Minzu University, 750021, Yinchuan, China

    Qiyan Jian, Zhiliang Jin, Haiyu Wang, Guorong Wang & Yongke Zhang

  3. Key Laboratory for Chemical Engineering and Technology, State Ethnic Affairs Commission, North Minzu University, 750021, Yinchuan, China

    Qiyan Jian, Zhiliang Jin, Haiyu Wang, Guorong Wang & Yongke Zhang

Authors
  1. Qiyan Jian
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Zhiliang Jin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Haiyu Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Guorong Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Yongke Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zhiliang Jin.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher’s note: Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Jian, Q., Jin, Z., Wang, H. et al. Orderly designed functional phosphide nanoparticles modified g-C3N4 for efficient photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. J Sol-Gel Sci Technol 90, 565–577 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-019-04968-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-019-04968-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation