Copper phosphide modified cadmium sulfide nanorods as a novel p–n heterojunction for highly efficient visible-light-driven hydrogen production in water

Abstract

The present study shows that p-type copper phosphide (Cu3P) can be an efficient promoter to improve photocatalytic H2 production from water when loaded on n-type cadmium sulphide nanorods.

Rational design of CdS@ZnO core-shell structure via atomic layer deposition for drastically enhanced photocatalytic H2 evolution with excellent photostability

“…A strategy to simultaneously solve the two drawbacks is to construct a heterojunction with core-shell structure by wrapping CdS core with other semiconductors [30][31][32]. The heterojunction assists the migration and separation of photo-induced electrons and holes [33,34]. Meanwhile, semiconductor shell keeps photocorrosion away from CdS core.…”

Exploration of Zr–Metal–Organic Framework as Efficient Photocatalyst for Hydrogen Production

“…Recently, Yu and coworkers have made a systematic analysis of the heterojunction photocatalysts, which provides an important reference for the subsequent photocatalytic research [23]. Furthermore, some phosphorus such as CoP [24,25], Ni 2 P [26], Cu 3 P [27], and MoP [28] have been employed for H 2 production. Especially, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with outstanding characteristics have attracted tremendous attention as catalysts or catalyst carriers for photocatalytic water splitting in the past few years [29][30][31].…”

Novel Cu3P/g-C3N4 p-n heterojunction photocatalysts for solar hydrogen generation

“…1, two distinct diffraction peaks of bare g-C 3 N 4 could be attributed to the graphitic phase with tri-s-triazine units. The Cu 3 P sample shows diffraction peaks located at 36.0°, 39.0°, 41.5°, 45.1°, and 46.2°, corresponding to the (112), (202), (211), (300), and (213) planes of hexagonal Cu 3 P (PDF#71-2261) [22]. It has been reported that trace amount of Cu was involved in the Cu 3 P sample, which was prepared via a phosphatization method [23].…”

“…The apparent quantum efficiency (AQE) for hydrogen generation was calculated to be 2.6% at 420 nm. However, no appreciable hydrogen generation could be detected in bare Cu 3 P, indicating that Cu 3 P was not an active photocatalyst [22]. By comparison, the activity of physically mixed Cu 3 P@g-C 3 N 4 was measured under the same condition.…”

“…Jiang et al [17] reported that CoP was also an efficient cocatalyst to enhance the photocatalytic activity of g-C 3 N 4 . Besides g-C 3 N 4 , the photocatalytic properties of various semiconductor photocatalysts such as CdS [20][21][22], TiO 2 [16,23], and Cd x Zn 1-x S [24] could also be increased by coupling with transitionmetal phosphides. However, the reported reaction mechanisms of these transition-metal phosphides are quite different.…”