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Abstract
Photosplitting water for H2 production is a promising, sustainable approach for solar-to-chemical energy conversion. However, developing low-cost, high efficient and stable photocatalysts remains the major challenge. Here we report a composite photocatalyst consisting of FeP nanoparticles and CdS nanocrystals (FeP/CdS) for photogenerating H2 in aqueous lactic acid solution under visible light irradiation. Experimental results demonstrate that the photocatalyst is highly active with a H2-evolution rate of 202000 μmol h−1 g−1 for the first 5 h (106000 μmol h−1 g−1 under natural solar irradiation), which is the best H2 evolution activity, even 3-fold higher than the control in situ photo-deposited Pt/CdS system, and the corresponding to an apparent quantum efficiency of over 35% at 520 nm. More important, we found that the system exhibited excellent stability and remained effective after more than 100 h in optimal conditions under visible light irradiation. A wide-ranging analysis verified that FeP effectively separates the photoexcited charge from CdS and showed that the dual active sites in FeP enhance the activity of FeP/CdS photocatalysts.
Highlights
Photosplitting water for H2 production is a promising, sustainable approach for solar-to-chemical energy conversion
We recently reported that a colloidal metal phosphide (Ni2P or Co2P) catalyst combined with colloidal CdS nanorod photosensitizers displayed good photocatalytic H2 evolution activity in an aqueous lactic acid solution, revealing the co-catalyst potential of metal phosphides[29,30]
FeP nanoparticles were prepared by chemical conversion from Fe3O4 nanoparticles precursor (Figs S1–S3) via the low-temperature phosphidation reaction under Ar atmosphere
Summary
Photosplitting water for H2 production is a promising, sustainable approach for solar-to-chemical energy conversion. Several new earth-abundant metal compounds have emerged and can be good candidates for co-catalysts, including MoS29–12, NiS13,14, NiSx15, CuS16, Cu(OH)[217], Co(OH)[218], and other related materials[19] These co-catalysts have the drawback of instability during the photocatalytic reaction. Metal phosphides, such as Ni2P20, CoP21,22, CuP23, MoP24, and FeP25–28 have been found to have the high electrochemical catalysis activity and good stability for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in acid or alkali solutions. We recently reported that a colloidal metal phosphide (Ni2P or Co2P) catalyst combined with colloidal CdS nanorod photosensitizers displayed good photocatalytic H2 evolution activity in an aqueous lactic acid solution, revealing the co-catalyst potential of metal phosphides[29,30]. Iron-based alternatives are especially attractive because Fe is the most abundant transition metal and its price is typically at www.nature.com/scientificreports/
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