CoP/Co heterojunction on porous g-C3N4 nanosheets as a highly efficient catalyst for hydrogen generation

Huanhuan Zhang; Guosheng Han; Yanyan Liu; Lingli Zhao; Wenbo Zhang; Muhammad Tahir Khalil; Huijuan Wei; Chengming Wang; Tao Liu; Xianji Guo; Xianli Wu; Jianchun Jiang; Baojun Li

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2023.12.044

CoP/Co heterojunction on porous g-C₃N₄ nanosheets as a highly efficient catalyst for hydrogen generation

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2024 Mar 15:658:22-31. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.12.044. Epub 2023 Dec 9.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Research Center of Green Catalysis, College of Chemistry, College of Mechanical and Power Engineering, Zhengzhou University, 100 Science Road, Zhengzhou 450001, PR China; School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Henan University of Technology, Zhengzhou 450001, PR China.
² Research Center of Green Catalysis, College of Chemistry, College of Mechanical and Power Engineering, Zhengzhou University, 100 Science Road, Zhengzhou 450001, PR China.
³ Research Center of Green Catalysis, College of Chemistry, College of Mechanical and Power Engineering, Zhengzhou University, 100 Science Road, Zhengzhou 450001, PR China; College of Science, Henan Agricultural University, 95 Wenhua Road, Zhengzhou 450002, PR China; Institute of Chemical Industry of Forest Products, Chinese Academy of Forestry (CAF), National Engineering Laboratory for Biomass Chemical Utilization, Key and Open Laboratory of Forest Chemical Engineering, SFA, Key Laboratory of Biomass Energy and Material, Jiangsu Province, Co-Innovation Center of Efficient Processing and Utilization of Forest Resources, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210042, PR China. Electronic address: lyylhs180208@163.com.
⁴ College of Science, Henan Agricultural University, 95 Wenhua Road, Zhengzhou 450002, PR China.
⁵ Research Center of Green Catalysis, College of Chemistry, College of Mechanical and Power Engineering, Zhengzhou University, 100 Science Road, Zhengzhou 450001, PR China. Electronic address: wuxianli@zzu.edu.cn.
⁶ Institute of Chemical Industry of Forest Products, Chinese Academy of Forestry (CAF), National Engineering Laboratory for Biomass Chemical Utilization, Key and Open Laboratory of Forest Chemical Engineering, SFA, Key Laboratory of Biomass Energy and Material, Jiangsu Province, Co-Innovation Center of Efficient Processing and Utilization of Forest Resources, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210042, PR China.
⁷ Research Center of Green Catalysis, College of Chemistry, College of Mechanical and Power Engineering, Zhengzhou University, 100 Science Road, Zhengzhou 450001, PR China; School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Henan University of Technology, Zhengzhou 450001, PR China; Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, PR China.

PMID: 38091795
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.12.044

Abstract

Designing non-precious catalysts to synergistically achieve a facilitated exposure of abundant active sites is highly desired but remains a significant challenge. Herein, a hetero-structured catalyst CoP-Co supported on porous g-C₃N₄ nanosheets (CoP-Co/CN-I) was prepared by pyrolysis and P-inducing strategy. The optimal catalyst achieves a turnover frequency (TOF) of 26 min^-1 at room temperature and the apparent activation energy (E_a) is 35.5 kJ·mol^-1. The catalytic activity is ranked top among the non-precious metal phosphides or the other supports. Meanwhile, the catalytic activity has no significant decrease even after 5 cycles. The CoP/Co interfaces provide richly exposed active sites, optimize hydrogen/water absorption free energy via electronic coupling, and thus improve the catalytic activity. The experimental results reveal that the CoP/Co heterojunction improves the catalytic activity due to the construction of dual-active sites. This research facilitates the innovative construction of non-noble metal catalysts to meet industrial demand for heterogeneous catalysis.

Keywords: Borohydride; Catalytic mechanism; Heterojunction; Porous g-C(3)N(4) nanosheets; Transition metal phosphides.