Coupled internal electric field with hydrogen release kinetics for promoted photocatalytic hydrogen production through employing carbon coated transition metal as co-catalyst

Yuxing Shi; Lingling Li; Zheng Xu; Xiuling Qin; Yi Cai; Wenlei Zhang; Weilong Shi; Xin Du; Feng Guo

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2022.10.022

Coupled internal electric field with hydrogen release kinetics for promoted photocatalytic hydrogen production through employing carbon coated transition metal as co-catalyst

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2023 Jan 15;630(Pt A):274-285. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2022.10.022. Epub 2022 Oct 11.

Authors

Yuxing Shi¹, Lingling Li¹, Zheng Xu¹, Xiuling Qin¹, Yi Cai², Wenlei Zhang³, Weilong Shi⁴, Xin Du⁵, Feng Guo⁶

Affiliations

¹ School of Energy and Power, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu 212003, PR China.
² Key Laboratory of Pollution Control Chemistry and Environmental Functional Materials for Qinghai-Tibet Plateau of the National Ethnic Affairs Commission, School of Chemistry and Environment, Southwest Minzu University, Chengdu 610041, China.
³ College of Chemistry, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China.
⁴ School of Material Science and Engineering, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang 212003, PR China; College of Chemistry, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China. Electronic address: shiwl@just.edu.cn.
⁵ College of Chemistry, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China. Electronic address: dux@zzu.edu.cn.
⁶ School of Energy and Power, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu 212003, PR China. Electronic address: gfeng0105@126.com.

PMID: 36244100
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2022.10.022

Abstract

The ideal solution to the energy shortage problem is to split water into hydrogen (H₂) utilizing solar-driven semiconductor photocatalytic technology. Nevertheless, severe carrier recombination is the major cause of decreased activity over photocatalysts. Construction of internal electric field (IEF) by coupling semiconductor with metal co-catalyst can effectively promote carrier separation. Herein, Co@C with the Co encapsulated in the C layer as a co-catalyst anchored on the surface of ZnIn₂S₄ nanosheets via a facile electrostatic self-assembly strategy, achieving outstanding photocatalytic water splitting into H₂ under simulated solar irradiation (AM 1.5G) with the production rate of 18.1 mmol h^-1 g^-1, which is 109.7 times higher than that of bare ZIS without assisted of Pt. Enhancement of photocatalytic H₂ evolution activity of Co@C/ZIS is mainly attributed to the construction of giant IEF (4.6-fold higher than ZIS) and suitable environment for hydrogen adsorption and desorption (ΔG_H* ∼ 0), which endows the following several advantages: (i) accelerating the migration and separation of photo-generated charges; (ii) improving the hydrogen release kinetics. Our work not only provides a design idea for facile preparation of a high-efficient composite photocatalyst, but also expands the application range of transition metal@carbon as a co-catalyst in energy photocatalysis.

Keywords: Co-catalyst; Co@C; H(2) evolution; Internal electric field; Photocatalysis.