Versatile Functional Porous Cobalt-Nickel Phosphide-Carbon Cocatalyst Derived from a Metal-Organic Framework for Boosting the Photocatalytic Activity of Graphitic Carbon Nitride

Metal organic framework-templated g-C3N4 NiCoP2-porous carbon (PC) ternary hybrid nanomaterials were designed by taking full advantage of the metal-organic framework (MOF) derivative in the photocatalytic reaction for the first time. The MOF-templated porous structure could prevent the stacking of the carbon nitride nanosheet, and the carefully designed NiCoP2, possessing low electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) overpotential and flat band potential, could improve the separation as well as the utilization efficiency of photogenerated electron hole pairs. Moreover, the ligand-templated porous carbon, acting as an interface mediator between g-C3N4 and the NiCoP2 cocatalyst, could boost the charge carrier transport. Consequently, the optimal ternary g-C3N4-NiCoP2-PC heterostructure exhibited enhanced photocatalytic HER performance and considerable H-2 evolution performance of 5.8 mu mol/h/g under UV-visible light with stoichiometric H2O2 production even in pure water. This work took full advantage of the MOF derivative for improving the photocatalytic reaction activity and provided a method that can hopefully help in designing a novel high-performance catalyst for solar conversion.