The noble-metal-free Ni2P/CTF composites for efficient photocatalytic hydrogen evolution under visible-light irradiation

The covalent triazine frameworks (CTFs) have recently become a new generation of organic semiconductor for photocatalytic hydrogen production from water splitting because of their great application potentials. However, the CTFs need to be combined with noble-metal-cocatalysts to achieve photocatalytic water splitting. Herein, we reported the noble-metal-free Ni2P/CTF composites as an efficient catalyst for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution. With increasing the Ni2P alloy loading on the surface of CTF, the photo catalytic activity increases obviously and then decreases gradually, and the highest photocatalytic H-2 evolution rate is achieved for 2.8%Ni2P/CTF, which is almost the same as that of 3.0%Pt/CTF photocatalyst. It has been revealed that the Ni2P alloy act as a cocatalyst for effectively suppressing the recombination of photogenerated electrons and holes, promoting the separation and migration of the charge carriers, thereby improving the efficiency of photocatalytic H-2 evolution. This work provides a promising strategy for preparation of cheap and stable photocatalytic system based on CTF for efficient photocatalytic hydrogen evolution under visible-light irradiation. (C) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

Covalent triazine frameworks (CTFs) have great application potential as a new generation of organic semiconductors for photocatalytic hydrogen production, and can be combined with noble-metal-cocatalysts; This study reports noble-metal-free Ni2P/CTF composites as an efficient catalyst for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution.