ZIF-9 derived cobalt phosphide and In2O3 as co-catalysts for efficient hydrogen production

Abstract

In 2 O 3 particles were successfully loaded on CoP and formed an type I heterojunction. Due to the load of In 2 O 3 , the light capture ability of CoP is greatly enhanced, and the utilization rate of visible light by CoP is improved, and photocatalytic hydrogen production activity was further increased. • Novel CoP/In 2 O 3 is prepared using a simple physical mixing method. • In 2 O 3 as a co-catalyst effectively improve the hydrogen production activity of the composite sample. • Heterojunction formed between CoP and In 2 O 3 effectively separates electrons and holes. Non-noble metal phosphorescent catalysts have attracted people's attention because of their cheap advantages and good photocatalytic efficiency. In this paper, proposed a CoP/In 2 O 3 composite catalyst that performs well in hydrogen production. The total amount of hydrogen released of CoP/In 2 O 3 composite catalyst which sensitized by Eosin Y (EY) after 5 h exposure to visible light reached 251.87 μmol, which was three times that of pure CoP under the same conditions. The composite catalyst CoP/In 2 O 3 can be prepared by physically mixing CoP and In 2 O 3 which just need one step. Among them, the Co-MOF (ZIF-9) is used as the precursor to prepare CoP by phosphating method, which maintains the framework structure of Co-MOF. In the CoP/In 2 O 3 composite catalyst, the In 2 O 3 particles as co-catalyst are tightly attached to the CoP surface, which improves the separation efficiency of electron-hole pairs. Subsequent photoelectrochemical experiments also proved the improvement of charge transfer efficiency. A multitude of characterization techniques such as XRD, SEM, XPS, BET, etc. were also performed on the prepared samples.