Cd0.5Zn0.5S/Ni2P noble-metal-free photocatalyst for high-efficient photocatalytic hydrogen production: Ni2P boosting separation of photocarriers

Recent Progress of Transition Metal Phosphides for Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution

“…Moreover, Ni 2 P also played the role of electrons acceptor to facilitate the separation of photoinduced charge carriers. [81] In a study by Dhingra et al, the photocatalytic activity of 1 wt%-Ni 2 P/ Zn 0.5 Cd 0.5 S exceeded that of Zn 0.5 Cd 0.5 S doped with precious metals, and at the same time, it also exhibited excellent photostability: after 4 cycles, the photocatalytic performance did not decrease dramatically. [88] The ternary heterostructure Ni 2 P/Cd 0.5 Zn 0.5 S/Co 3 O 4 was constructed by Yu et al [82] to achieve highly efficient photocatalytic H 2 evolution, with photocatalytic activity up to 39.66 mmol h À 1 g À 1 , about 2.42 times higher than that of bare Cd 0.5 Zn 0.5 S. In this photocatalytic system, the type-II heterostructure formed between Cd 0.5 Zn 0.5 S and Co 3 O 4 was favorable for the rapid migration of photoinduced electrons from Co 3 O 4 to Cd 0.5 Zn 0.5 S. Moreover, Ni 2 P could not only provide a large number of reactive sites but also capture photogenerated electrons from the CB of Cd 0.5 Zn 0.5 S, reducing the recombination rate of photoexcited e À -h + pairs (Figure 11).…”

“…Recently, a CdS‐based photocatalytic material, Zn x Cd 1‐ x S, has also aroused the interest of numerous researchers because of its narrow band gap and controllable band edge position [81,93] . To deal with the problem of high recombination rate in Zn x Cd 1‐ x S, loading TMP co‐catalysts has been considered as a promising solution [80,81,86,89,94] . Taking Cd 0.5 Zn 0.5 S/Ni 2 P (CZS/Ni 2 P) nanocomposites as an example, which were synthesized via two‐step hydrothermal procedure, and the optical photocatalytic hydrogen generation rate reached 41.26 mmol h −1 g −1 under the illumination of visible light.…”

“…Compared with the pure Cd 0.5 Zn 0.5 S, the Ni−S bonds existing between Cd 0.5 Zn 0.5 S and Ni 2 P could serve as fast electronic transmission channel. Moreover, Ni 2 P also played the role of electrons acceptor to facilitate the separation of photoinduced charge carriers [81] . In a study by Dhingra et al., the photocatalytic activity of 1 wt%‐Ni 2 P/Zn 0.5 Cd 0.5 S exceeded that of Zn 0.5 Cd 0.5 S doped with precious metals, and at the same time, it also exhibited excellent photostability: after 4 cycles, the photocatalytic performance did not decrease dramatically [88] …”

“…Recently, a CdS-based photocatalytic material, Zn x Cd 1-x S, has also aroused the interest of numerous researchers because of its narrow band gap and controllable band edge position. [81,93] To deal with the problem of high recombination rate in Zn x Cd 1-…”

“…x S, loading TMP co-catalysts has been considered as a promising solution. [80,81,86,89,94] Taking Cd 0.5 Zn 0.5 S/Ni 2 P (CZS/Ni 2 P) nanocomposites as an example, which were synthesized via two-step hydrothermal procedure, and the optical photocatalytic hydrogen generation rate reached 41.26 mmol h À 1 g À 1 under the illumination of visible light. Compared with the pure Cd 0.5 Zn 0.5 S, the NiÀ S bonds existing between Cd 0.5 Zn 0.5 S and Ni 2 P could serve as fast electronic transmission channel.…”