In situ synthesis of Cu3P/g-C3N4 heterojunction with superior photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. (3rd September 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Sun, Wenjuan; Jia, Jia; Jin, Chenyang; Zhang, Xiaoli; Liu, Enzhou; Fan, Jun
• Is Part Of: Journal of physics. Volume 52:Number 46(2019)
• Publication Date: 2019-09-03
• Subjects: g-C3N4 -- Cu3P -- solvothermal approach -- photocatalytic H2 production; Physics -- Periodicals; 530
• DOI: 10.1088/1361-6463/ab36ca
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0022-3727

Abstract

Abstract: The low-cost and high-efficient Cu3 P/g-C3 N4 photocatalyst was prepared through one-step in situ solvothermal approach. The characterization results proved that Cu3 P nanoparticles with high purity and good crystallinity were uniformly embedded on the g-C3 N4 nanosheets. The maximal H2 evolution rate can be enhanced to 4909.9 mol · g −1 · h −1, which is 71.1 times higher than bare g-C3 N4 . The markedly photocatalytic H2 production was mainly because of increased active sites and the intimate contact interfaces by in situ growth of Cu3 P nanoparticles on g-C3 N4 nanosheets, which greatly boost the separation and transport of photo-induced electro-hole pairs. The enhanced mechanism was proposed and verified by the photoluminescence spectra, transient photocurrent responses and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy results. This one-step solvothermal synthesis paves a new way for in situ construction of highly efficient transition metal phosphides/carbon nitride photocatalyst and application of photocatalytic splitting water system. Highlights Fabricated Cu3 P/g-C3 N4 heterojunction by one-step in situ solvothermal approach. The optimized H2 evolution rate is 4909.9 µ mol · g −1 · h −1 for 3 wt% Cu3 P/g-C3 N4 . The quantum efficiency (QE) is 22.1% (under 300W Xe lamp with 400 ± 7.5 nm band-pass filter). Photocatalytic enhancement mechanism of Cu3 P/g-C3 N4 composite was proposed.