Phosphating Cu/Graphdiyne Nanospheres for Improved Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production

Abstract

The classical synthesis of graphdiyne (GDY) involves the cross-coupling reaction of hexaethynylbenzene on copper foil. However, due to the bulky nature of copper foil, stripping loss occurs. In this study, nanospherical copper powder was employed instead of copper foil for the preparation of Cu/ graphdiyne (Cu/GDY) phosphide, which exhibits superior photocatalytic activity compared to copper as it efficiently absorbs light energy and converts it into chemical energy, thereby promoting hydrogen evolution reaction with photocatalysts. Moreover, cuprous phosphide demonstrates excellent stability during the photocatalytic process and is resistant to photocorrosion or oxidation. By adjusting the phosphating ratio through hightemperature phosphating, Cu/GDY-P containing Cu 3 P was obtained. The maximum hydrogen evolution rate under visible light reached 785.75 μmol g −1 h −1 . Based on X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and density functional theory (DFT) results, a plausible photogenerated charge transfer mechanism in Cu/ GDY-P is proposed herein. This work presents a straightforward and feasible strategy for treating Cu/GDY-P materials with significant implications for future researchers involved in preparing copper-based/GDY materials.

α-Fe2O3/Nb2O5/C Nanorods for Selective Photoelectrocatalytic Oxidation of 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural under Solar Light

“…The growth of global energy demand and concerns about environmental issues have greatly promoted the development of clean and sustainable energy sources, such as hydrogen energy and fuel cells. − Among them, photo­(electro)­catalytic (PEC) water splitting of hydrogen is a promising way to produce clean fuels and replace fossil fuels . Given that solar energy consists of 43% visible light, the development of visible-light-driven photo­(electro)­catalytic systems for splitting water into H 2 and O 2 offers a promising strategy for harvesting sunlight and converting it into clean fuels. − However, multielectron transfer water oxidation always suffers from high overpotential and slow reaction kinetics, which slows down or even inhibits the production of H 2 . , To solve this problem, most studies add hole scavengers to the reaction system, which leads to a loss of catalyst oxidation capacity and an increase in production costs. , Adding biomass to the photoelectric system can not only improve the reaction rate of the oxidation process and promote the hydrogen evolution reaction, but also increase the added value of the production process by oxidizing biomass into fine chemicals under environmental conditions …”