Surface engineering: Phosphorus doped Co3(PO4)2 generates P(δ−)-Co bonds for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

Abstract

The use of clean energy is a way to address global carbon neutrality and carbon peaking. The use of solar energy to drive the decomposition of water by semiconductors to prepare hydrogen is one of the research directions of hydrogen energy. In this paper, phosphorus elements were doped in Co3(PO4)2 by high-temperature phosphorylation. UV–Vis experiments shows that the color of the phosphorylation catalyst changed from pink to black-purple, and its light absorption range and intensity were significantly increased. SEM images revealed that many nanoparticles were grown on the catalyst surface. XPS experiments demonstrated the growth of stable P (δ−)-Co bond on the catalyst surface. The P (δ−)-Co bond can inhibit the complexation of photogenerated electron and hole pairs and enhance the transport efficiency of photogenerated electrons, thus improving the hydrogen production performance. Electron capture by P (δ−)-Co bond in photocatalytic hydrogen precipitation reactions. Hydrogen production kinetics demonstrate that phosphorus-doped Co3(PO4)2 releases three times more hydrogen than CO3(PO4)2. This paper provides a novel design solution for the photocatalyst preparation method.