Unique ternary Ni-MOF-74/Ni2P/MoSx composite for efficient photocatalytic hydrogen production: Role of Ni2P for accelerating separation of photogenerated carriers

Teng Li; Zhiliang Jin

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2021.07.098

Unique ternary Ni-MOF-74/Ni₂P/MoS_x composite for efficient photocatalytic hydrogen production: Role of Ni₂P for accelerating separation of photogenerated carriers

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2022 Jan:605:385-397. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2021.07.098. Epub 2021 Jul 24.

Authors

Teng Li¹, Zhiliang Jin²

Affiliations

¹ School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Ningxia Key Laboratory of Solar Chemical Conversion Technology, Key Laboratory for Chemical Engineering and Technology, State Ethnic Affairs Commission, North Minzu University, Yinchuan 750021, PR China.
² School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Ningxia Key Laboratory of Solar Chemical Conversion Technology, Key Laboratory for Chemical Engineering and Technology, State Ethnic Affairs Commission, North Minzu University, Yinchuan 750021, PR China. Electronic address: zl-jin@nun.edu.cn.

PMID: 34332412
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2021.07.098

Abstract

A reasonable introduction of MOFs-derived Ni₂P with high dispersity is a valid way to reduce the recombination rate of photogenerated electron-holes, thus for more effective visible-light-driven water splitting. In this study, Ni-MOF-74/Ni₂P precursor was obtained by low-temperature phosphating method. A ternary heterojunction Ni-MOF-74/Ni₂P/MoS_x with a unique structure is obtained by a solution-based mixing method. The unique structure of Ni-MOF-74/Ni₂P provides advantages for MoS_x load. The UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy proves that the introduction of Ni₂P improves the utilization of visible light by the composite catalyst 10%-NPMS and promotes more electrons generation, thereby improving photocatalytic hydrogen production activity. It is proved that the introduced Ni₂P can accelerate the separation of photogenerated carriers by characterization (PL, EIS, LSV, etc.) analyses. The composite catalyst 10%-NPMS with the best hydrogen production activity was obtained by adjusting the ratio between Ni-MOF-74/Ni₂P and MoS_x. The photocatalytic hydrogen evolution of the composite catalyst 10%-NPMS (286.16 μmol) is 28.30, 2.78, 3.79 and 2.41 times that of pure Ni-MOF-74, Ni₂P, MoS_x and binary 10%-Ni-MOF-74/MoS_x within 5 h, respectively. And the hybrid 10%-Ni-MOF-74/Ni₂P/MoS_x exhibits excellent photocatalytic hydrogen evolution performance and good stability. This research will provide a new strategy for synthesizing unique ternary composite materials by using metal organic framework materials as precursors.

Keywords: Hydrogen evolution; MOFs derivatives; MoS(x); Ni-MOF-74.