Co2P Nanorods as an Efficient Cocatalyst Decorated Porous g-C3N4 Nanosheets for Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production under Visible Light Irradiation

Abstract

Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4), which typically acts as the 2D support for loading with cocatalysts, endows fascinating performances for photocatalytic water splitting. Benefiting from the natural sheet-like structure in g-C3N4, 1D metal phosphides (Co2P) nanorods are incorporated into 2D porous g-C3N4 nanosheets via a solution-phase method under ultrasonication. The novel 1D/2D Co2P/g-C3N4 heterojunction nanohybrids exhibit ameliorated visible-light photocatalytic H2 generation without the assistance of Pt as noble metal cocatalysts. Interestingly, the optimal loading of Co2P nanorods is 3 wt%, giving a maximum H2 production rate of 53.3 µmol h−1 g−1. Hence, the solution-phase hybridization technique can be extensively applied for the smart engineering of other 1D and 2D nanomaterials, leading to unprecedented opportunities on the highly efficient heterojunction photocatalysts for solar-to-H2 conversion.